https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/face ... 39255.html
"Facebook sued by FTC, 48 attorneys general alleging it operates an illegal monopoly
Alexis Keenan and Daniel Howley
Wed, December 9, 2020, 2:38 PM GMT-5
A group of 48 U.S. attorneys general led by New York filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook (FB) on Wednesday, alleging the social media giant is violating antitrust law by buying up competitors and depriving consumers of alternatives that would better protect their privacy. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a separate suit alleging similar antitrust violations.
At the heart of both lawsuits are claims that Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion and WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, as well as other smaller technology companies, were carried out in order to quash competition. As part of its lawsuit, the FTC wants to force Facebook to break off both Instagram and WhatsApp.
“After identifying two significant competitive threats to its dominant position — Instagram and WhatsApp Facebook moved to squelch those threats by buying the companies, reflecting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s view, expressed in a 2008 email, that ‘it is better to buy than compete,’” the FTC lawsuit stated.
Facebook is the largest social network in the world with 2.7 billion monthly active users across its four apps: Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp."

