From the Washington Post:
"A district court in D.C. on Monday dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against Facebook, saying the agency had failed to offer enough facts to prove Facebook has monopoly power in the social media industry.
"The court said the agency could file an amended complaint with more details to bolster its case. But the judge voiced outright skepticism that Facebook is a monopoly, calling that 'conventional wisdom' for which the FTC had offered no evidence.
"'It is almost as if the agency expects the Court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist,' District Judge James E. Boasberg wrote in his opinion.
"The decision immediately sparked reaction from both sides of the dispute, with those favoring action against Big Tech calling for a rewrite of antitrust law, which requires a showing that a company is a monopoly before a case can be pursued."
According to the story, "The court also dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by a group of state attorneys general against the company that challenged the company’s acquisitions of photo-sharing service Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp. The court ruled that the states waited too long to challenge Facebook’s acquisition of the companies in 2012 and 2014, respectively."
- KC's View:
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This won't be over until it's over … and there is way too much political pressure from both sides of the aisle to let this go anytime soon. But, expect big tech companies to fight back using actual laws as their defense … which only will be a problem if Congress actually changes the laws.
Which could happen.
