August 20, 2021

In its renewed antitrust case against Facebook, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has added more details and data on the claim that Facebook monopolized the market by crushing or buying its competitors.

In an extended part of the complaint, the FTC argued that Facebook has dominated the U.S. personal social networking market, with over 65% of monthly active users since 2012, and subsequently repeated a request for a court order requiring Facebook to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

The amended complaint states: ‘Despite causing significant customer dissatisfaction, Facebook has enjoyed enormous profits for an extended period suggesting both that it has monopoly power and that its personal social networking rivals are not able to overcome entry barriers and challenge its dominance.”

Before the amended complaint was filed, the FTC’s original complaint was dismissed in December, after Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in June that the FTC’s complaint had provided no evidence that Facebook had a monopoly position in the market.

For more information, read the original story in Reuters.