Facebook will fight in court against an attempt to take away Instagram and WhatsApp from it
Facebook has asked a US federal court to drop the antitrust case against it, saying the government is trying to “outplay” acquisitions that received regulatory approvals many years ago.
During a court hearing in Washington on Wednesday, Facebook said its December FTC lawsuit ignored the fact that the regulator had approved Instagram’s 2012 acquisitions and WhatsApp’s 2014 acquisitions and did not explain. Why now he wants to cancel them.
The filing is Facebook’s first official response to the FTC lawsuit and a similar lawsuit filed by a coalition of 48 states. Both lawsuits contain similar claims. Specifically, Facebook has bought Instagram and WhatsApp to eliminate the threat these two apps pose to the company’s business. Besides, prosecutors accused Facebook of using its market dominance to stifle the growth of competing services.
The FTC lawsuit also calls on the courts to re-spin the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies.
In turn, Facebook noted in a statement that both applications (Instagram and WhatsApp) are “potential” competitors and do not pose a serious and real threat to its business.
“Antitrust laws are designed to encourage competition and protect consumers, ” Facebook said in a statement Wednesday. ” These lawsuits also do not contain credible claims of harm to our behavior.” “The FTC wants to replay everything, ” says Facebook. ” She’s just ignoring her own decisions, unable to offer any compelling explanation for her radical turn.”
