State, federal antitrust lawsuits likely to challenge Facebook for buying rivals and weaponizing

data
The Washington Post

State and federal investigators are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Facebook
that will challenge the tech giant’s acquisition of two rivals, Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging
that the deals helped create an anti-competitive social networking juggernaut that has left users
with few quality alternatives.
The charges form a critical part of what could be a wide-ranging legal salvo, according to
three people with knowledge of the matter, ultimately threatening to saddle Facebook with its
toughest regulatory challenge in its nearly 17-year history.
As the state and federal probes enter their final phases, investigators have explored how
Instagram and WhatsApp changed in the years after Facebook purchased them, according to the
three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a law
enforcement proceeding. Government antitrust watchdogs have weighed whether to contend in
lawsuits that these transactions have left users with worse services — and fewer privacy
protections — than they might have had if the companies had remained independent, the sources
said.
With the text-messaging service WhatsApp, in particular, Facebook had promised users
that it would preserve the messaging company’s independence and strong privacy protections
when it was purchased in 2014. It made the same commitment to regulators, who then gave a
greenlight to the deal. But Facebook reversed course years later and has sought to integrate its
users’ data with the social networking site’s other services, a controversial move that has raised
fresh concerns given the tech giant’s past privacy mishaps.
Investigators also have eyed the way in which Facebook manages its vast trove of user
data, and the policies it has in place that govern when and how third-party app developers and
other companies can access it — setting up the potential, the three sources said, for forthcoming
state and federal complaints to contend that Facebook weaponized its most valuable assets as a
way to stamp out emerging rivals.
Each of the sources acknowledged that any state and federal lawsuits have not been
finalized, meaning that investigators could still alter their thinking, potentially to maximize their
potency in court. Nor are these the only issues that government officials have explored as part of
their wide-ranging Facebook probes, the three people familiar with the matter said.
But they agreed that state attorneys general — who initiated their inquiry last year under
the leadership of New York’s Letitia James (D) — are on track to file a lawsuit in early
December. Nearly 40 states, led by Democratic and Republican enforcers, have expressed an
interest in signing onto the case, according to those familiar with the effort, who said some state
leaders discussed the matter on a private call Wednesday.
The Federal Trade Commission, one of the U.S. government’s two competition-focused
agencies, is also nearing the end of its own probe and has sought to coordinate with state leaders,
The Washington Post has reported. But the commission, which has met to discuss a lawsuit, must
still vote on bringing such a case. In doing so, it could choose to file in front of an administrative
judge, leaving Facebook facing two major antitrust matters in two different venues.
Anticipating the legal barrage, Facebook has lobbied fiercely — in public and in private
— against the claims. The company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, stressed to lawmakers
at a hearing in July that his company’s purchase of Instagram, WhatsApp and other firms did not
threaten competition — and instead allowed those services to flourish worldwide.
Zuckerberg and his colleagues also have pointed to the arrival of new, fast-growing social
apps — including TikTok, the short-form video service owned by China-based ByteDance — as
evidence of a healthy, competitive social networking market.
Asked about the probe, James, the attorney general of New York, said she could not
comment on the probe because it is ongoing. But she added in a statement that they would
"continue to use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook’s actions
stifled competition, reduced choices, or put user data at risk.”
Facebook declined comment. The FTC also declined to comment.
No matter its scope, an antitrust lawsuit is sure to touch off a long battle between
Facebook and government regulators, putting the tech giant among the ranks of Microsoft, which
clashed with the government in a competition case that spanned more than a decade, and Google,
which the Justice Department sued over its alleged anti-competitive behavior just last month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/19/facebook-antitrust-lawsuit/