United States of America: FTC files amended complaint against Facebook for alleged creation and maintenance of a monopoly position

On 19 August 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a renewed antitrust complaint against Facebook with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Similar to the original lawsuit, where the FTC sued Facebook for the alleged maintenance of a monopoly through anticompetitive behaviour and namely the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the amended complaint also revolves around Facebook's maintenance of a monopoly and violations of federal antitrust laws. In light of the original complaint being dismissed by the U.S. District Court for insufficient evidence in June, the FTC filed a more detailed complaint (80 pages instead of 53) this time around. More specifically, the FTC alleges Facebook to have maintained a monopoly in the social media market since 2011 through acquisitions and eliminations ("buy-or-bury") of rival companies. Like in the original lawsuit, the FTC still criticizes the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp and the blocking of rivals for accessing Facebook's application programming interface. Facebook's deadline to file a legal response is 4 October 2021.