Federal government refiles monopoly complaint in Facebook antitrust case
CBSN
The Federal Trade Commission has sharpened its antitrust case against Facebook, re-filing a complaint accusing the social networking giant of illegal monopoly behavior in a suit that ultimately could force a spinoff of its popular Instagram and WhatsApp services.
In the revised complaint, filed Thursday, the FTC adds detail to earlier allegations that Facebook grew its market power by buying up or bullying potential rivals. By allegedly doing so at a critical time — just when mobile devices were becoming popular — Facebook "eliminated the possibility that rivals might harness the power of the mobile internet to challenge Facebook's dominance," the FTC argued. In addition to acquiring smaller rivals, such as Instagram, Facebook kneecapped potential competitors by restricting third-party developers who built software that connected to Facebook's platform, the FTC alleged Thursday.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.