Statement: Bipartisan Accountability for Facebook’s Anticompetitive Tactics
WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 40 state attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice today filed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, alleging that the tech giant used anticompetitive tactics to buy or kill off rivals and solidify its dominance in social networking. Alex Harman, competition policy advocate for Public Citizen, is available to speak with reporters and released the following statement:
“Today the country is beginning to hold Facebook accountable for its anticompetitive actions. The acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were designed to prevent competition and solidify Facebook’s dominant position. This is what antitrust law was designed to prevent. These lawsuits mark an important turning point in the battle to rein in Big Tech monopolies and to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement.
“With the resounding bipartisan decision to take on Facebook, what started as a nascent academic idea supported by a small coalition fighting for economic justice has become the official policy of American antitrust enforcers. We welcome this action and look forward to more aggressive antitrust enforcement actions against other Big Tech monopolists, as well as those in other industries. Consumers, innovators and workers deserve an economy that is fair and free from giant corporations reducing choice and opportunity to pad their bottom lines.”