FTC, Most States Sue Facebook, With Commission's Phillips and Wilson Voting No

Facebook faces antitrust lawsuits from 40-plus states with attorneys general of both parties along with the FTC for allegedly illegal, anticompetitive behavior in the social media market. While the agency's chairman signed onto the litigation, fellow FTC GOP members Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson voted no. Chairman Joseph Simons joined the agency's two Democrats voting yes.

The FTC and states filed separately Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Washington. State AGs look forward to collaborating with the FTC, New York AG Letitia James said (D) in a livestreamed news conference Wednesday.

“For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance ... to crush market rivals and snuff out competition all at the expense of everyday users,” James said. “No company should have this much unchecked power.” Facebook used vast money to acquire rivals before they could challenge dominance, with its $1 billion buy of Instagram in 2012 and $19 billion buy of WhatsApp the most glaring examples, she said. Facebook’s behavior hurt innovation and privacy, she said. James and a bipartisan group of state AGs opened a Facebook antitrust probe in September 2019.

“Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition,” said FTC Competition Bureau Director Ian Conner. "Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”

Facebook didn't immediately comment.