FTC Revises and Refiles Complaint Against Facebook | Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati – JD Supra

Introduction The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised and refiled its complaint against Facebook, once again asserting Facebook throttled competition in the market for “personal social networking services.”1 The revised complaint renews and reinforces allegations that Facebook harmed competition by acquiring some of its most promising rising competitors (especially Instagram and WhatsApp) and by selectively denying interoperability with its platform to other rising competitors. The FTC faced a setback in June 2021 when U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg dismissed its initial complaint for failing to adequately allege Facebook was dominant in personal social networking, as well as for failing to adequately allege that Facebook’s interoperability violations were “ongoing or likely to recur.”2 The judge gave the FTC leave to refile the complaint and, on August 19, 2021, the FTC filed an amended complaint seeking to address these two deficiencies.3 Narrative Changes In its amended complaint, the FTC seeks to respond to the district court’s critiques and provide further detail to bolster its allegations. At the outset, the new complaint alleges that Facebook took as its guiding “maxim” that “it is better to buy than compete.” To substantiate this, later in the amended complaint, the FTC adds allegations about five lesser-known acquisitions…
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