This decision does not completely extinguish the FTC's complaint: the authority overseas chinese in australia data has thirty days to complete and support its own, in order to try to relaunch it. But this rejection marks a halt to the two most dangerous procedures for Facebook. Indeed, these are distinguished from other antitrust actions brought against technology giants like Google, Apple or Amazon, because they ask the courts for a form of dismantling: in the event of a legal defeat, the social network leader would have to separate from Instagram and WhatsApp.
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The two complaints are also unusual because they target two companies that were bought by Facebook, the first in 2012 for $1 billion (840 million euros) and the second in 2014 for $19 billion. In a sign of good news for the group created by Mark Zuckerberg, its stock price climbed 4.18% during trading on Monday in the United States. As a result, its capitalization has for the first time exceeded the stratospheric threshold of $1,000 billion.
"We compete fairly"
According to Judge Boasberg, the FTC's complaint "says almost nothing concrete on the key issue of Facebook's actual market power." "It is almost as if the agency expected the court to acquiesce to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopoly," the judge said. The FTC's complaint cites a 60 percent market share figure for Facebook's services, but provides too few details. Moreover, the definition of the relevant market is the subject of a fierce debate, fueled by Facebook itself.
"Unlike well-known consumer goods, such as tobacco or office supplies, there is no clear and universally accepted definition of what a social network is," the judge said. Facebook has always maintained that Instagram was a photo-sharing application,.
