Facebook has filed two motions in the court seeking dismissal of antitrust lawsuits against it. The social media giant said that lawsuit over its move to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram should be dismissed. This is the company’s first official response to the antitrust charges. The charges have been moved to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 46 state attorneys general. The company said that none of the lawsuits made a credible case of antitrust. “The main objective of antitrust is to make sure that consumers are protected and competition doesn’t get killed. But there is no credibility in the claims that our conduct harmed either,” Facebook said.
The response comes around three months after the social media giant was slapped with anti-trust laws. Both the cases by the FTC and state attorneys claim that Facebook’s move to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram will cut the competition. The lawsuits said that the move would neutralize the companies Facebook saw as a threat. Facebook said that lawsuits were nothing more than a do-over as the acquisitions were approved years ago after proper scrutiny by the FTC. Facebook’s lawyers said that antitrust claims come at a time when the company is facing relentless criticism for matters that are in no way related to the antitrust concerns.
Talking about the case by the attorney general of several states, Facebook said that they took too long to act. Referring to the case by states, Facebook said that charges made by them are ‘afterthought claims.’ Apart from concerns over acquisitions, both the cases also talked about the way Facebook treats third-party developers. The lawsuits mentioned Facebook’s decision to cut off Twitter-owned Vine’s access to Facebook’s API. Responding to it, Facebook lawyers said that the company has no duty to allow other apps to have access to its platform. The Federal Trade Commission and Attorney Generals of these states have time until April to respond to the motions moved by Facebook.
Jeffrey is acting editor in chief of AmazingNews24 with over seven years of experience in the field of online news under his belt. Jeffrey has worked with multiple media houses and is currently leading a team of journalists, sub-editors and writers through his entrepreneurial endeavours.