{"id":25051,"date":"2021-06-29T06:27:46","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T06:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/ftcs-antitrust-case-against-facebook-falters-but-doesnt-quite-fall-in-federal-court.html"},"modified":"2021-06-29T06:27:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T06:27:46","slug":"ftcs-antitrust-case-against-facebook-falters-but-doesnt-quite-fall-in-federal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/ftcs-antitrust-case-against-facebook-falters-but-doesnt-quite-fall-in-federal-court.html","title":{"rendered":"FTC\u2019s antitrust case against Facebook falters but doesn\u2019t quite fall in federal court"},"content":{"rendered":"

An antitrust suit against Facebook<\/a> by the FTC and several states had the wind taken out of its sails today by a federal judge, who ruled that the plaintiffs don\u2019t provide enough evidence that the company exerts monopoly control over social media. The court was more receptive, however, to revisiting the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and the case was left open for regulators to take another shot at it.<\/p>\n

The court decision was in response to a Facebook motion to dismiss the suit. Judge James Boesberg of the D.C. circuit explained that the provided evidence of monopoly and antitrust violations was \u201ctoo speculative and conclusory to go forward.\u201d In a more ordinary industry, it might have sufficed, he admits, but \u201cthis case involves no ordinary or intuitive market.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was incumbent on the plaintiffs to back up their allegation of Facebook controlling 60 percent of the market with clear and voluminous data and a convincing delineation of what exactly that market comprises \u2014 and it failed to do so, wrote Boesberg. Therefore he dismissed the complaints in accordance with Facebook\u2019s legal argument.<\/p>\n

The company wrote in a statement that it is \u201cpleased that today\u2019s decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Boesberg is sensible that lack of evidence in the record does not mean that the evidence does not exist. So he his giving the FTC and states 30 days to amend their filing, after which the complaints will be reevaluated.<\/p>\n

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FTC seeks to break up Facebook, alleging illegal monopoly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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He also found that Facebook\u2019s logic for dismissing the suit\u2019s allegations regarding its controversial acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp was lacking.<\/p>\n

Facebook argued that even supposing that these acquisitions were somehow problematic, the FTC is not authorized to prosecute such \u201clong-past conduct\u201d and is limited to more recent or imminent problems. Boesberg was not convinced, finding precedent that essentially says such mergers are legally considered current as long as they exist, and the government can revisit them any time it thinks it has cause. (That\u2019s not the case for the state lawsuits, however, which he dismissed outright for coming too long after the fact.)<\/p>\n

That may very well be the plan of new FTC Chair Lina Khan<\/a> who has taken a hawkish regulatory position regarding antitrust in general and past acquisitions specifically. At her confirmation hearing she commented that the approvals of the mergers may have been made without complete information and, as such, represented a \u201cmissed opportunity\u201d to understand and build rules around.<\/p>\n

An FTC representative said that \u201cthe FTC is closely reviewing the opinion and assessing the best option forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll likely know more following the agency\u2019s meeting on Thursday. The 30-day punt in fact may be a great opportunity for Khan to put her ideas into practice, as the judge practically literally invites them to rewrite the complaint with more information. Whether she and the FTC have enough material to put together a compelling case remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: Facebook should put the champagne back in the fridge, for now at least. Khan may not stop at a slap on the wrist.<\/p>\n

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9 reasons the Facebook FTC settlement is a joke<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/VMDQPfNHntk\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An antitrust suit against Facebook by the FTC and several states had the wind taken out of its sails today by a federal judge, who ruled that the plaintiffs don\u2019t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-25051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t