Govt sharpens antitrust attack against Facebook with filing

Federal regulators sharpened their antitrust attack against Facebook on Thursday, filing a revised version of their complaint alleging that the social network giant has abused its market power to suppress competition

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators sharpened their antitrust attack against Facebook on Thursday, filing a revised version of their complaint alleging that the social network giant has abused its market power to suppress competition. It was the second try by the Federal Trade Commission, after a federal judge in June dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the agency and a broad coalition of state attorneys general, amid multiplying efforts by federal and state regulators to rein in tech titans’ market power. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had ruled that the suits were “legally insufficient” and didn’t provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly. The ruling dismissed the FTC’s complaint but not the case, giving the agency a chance to file a revised complaint. Boasberg had said the FTC fell short of demonstrating that Facebook holds monopoly market power, failing to provide an estimate for the company’s market share over the past ten years.