FTC Claims Facebook's Acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram Were Anti-Competitive

The Commission is asking the courts to split them up from the tech giant.

---

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a new antitrust lawsuit against Facebook claiming that it behaved in a monopolizing manner.

According to a new report from Tech Crunch, both the FTC and various attorneys general have filed two individual but similar suits at the federal and state levels regarding the same matter. Both allege that Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram fall under monopolizing and anti-competitive behavior by effectively shutting down nascent competitors, and that the tech and social media giant used it platform to prevent the growth of emerging companies by leveraging access to it.

As a result of these allegations, the FTC is asking to courts to split both WhatsApp and Instagram from Facebook on the grounds that those acquisitions are retroactively illegal. In addition, Facebook should have to provide prior notice and seek approval any future merger or acquisition from both the FTC and state authorities.

In response to the filings, Facebook tweeted: “The government now wants a do-over with no regard for the impact that precedent would have on the broader business community.”