(Bloomberg) — U.S. antitrust officials are expected Thursday to refile their monopoly lawsuit against Facebook Inc., seeking to salvage the landmark case that a judge threw out in June.
The Federal Trade Commission is poised to file the new complaint in federal court in Washington, alleging that Facebook violated antitrust laws by buying Instagram and WhatsApp in order to eliminate them as competitors.
The agency is trying to revive the case after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in June dismissed it, saying the agency failed to provide enough detail to support its claim that Facebook has a monopoly in the social-media market. Boasberg gave the FTC 30 days to fix the error and refile, and the commission won an extension until Aug. 19.
The Facebook case, first filed in December, presents an early test for FTC Chair Lina Khan, who was named head of the agency in June by President Joe Biden. Khan is a leading advocate for taking a more forceful antitrust stance against companies and is already taking steps to bolster the agency’s authority.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
