Voice of London

Social media giant Facebook has been creating a strategy to be a monopoly in their field and eliminate competitors. In the USA, Facebook faces two separate lawsuits. The New York Attorney General is calling for the company to be broken entirely up to if required. 

In regards to the first lawsuit, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is keen on a permanent injunction on Facebook. This means that they will have to cease their assets from partnering ventures such as ‘Instagram’ and ‘WhatsApp.’

According to the FTC, taking over Instagram in 2012 and taking over WhatsApp in 2014 has created what they described as a “systematic strategy” to eliminate competition. 

However, this is not all. In their second lawsuit, they have been accused of cutting off services to rival ‘Silicon Valley’ developers. According to Letitia James, Facebook “deprived users of the benefits of the competition and reduced privacy protections and turns along the way.” This case has been led by 46 six states, two jurisdictions, and Letitia James herself. 

This is not Facebook’s first attempt to eliminate competition and create a foul play. In October, The FTC accused Facebook of using a” web of exclusionary” to boycott any potential match.

This would not last long because of the FTC’s urgency to implement the popular social media website’s consequences. According to Ian Conner to FTC’s Bureau of competition, “we aim to roll back Facebook’s anti-competitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and competition can thrive.” 

Words: Akanksha Goel | Subbing: Sam Tabahriti