Two antitrust lawsuits filed against Facebook by U.S. District Judges were dropped Monday. The judge stated that the complaint was "legally insufficient" and should be dismissed.FTC and a group of state attorneys filed lawsuits against Facebook late last year. They claimed that Facebook engaged in anticompetitive, monopolistic behavior through the purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram. According to the complaint, Facebook considered the apps "two significant competition threats to its dominant position" and "moved in to quell those threats by purchasing the companies."This lawsuit refers to an email that Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, sent in 2008, where he stated that it was better to buy than to compete.D.C. District Judge James Boasberg noted in the document that the platform offers a free service to consumers and that the FTC complaint did not address Facebook's market dominance.The FTC's inability of providing any indication as to the metric(s), method(s), or methods it used to calculate Facebook market share makes its vague assertion that "60%+" is too conclusive and speculative to be able to proceed.He also stated that Facebook has not offered interoperability solutions to allow competing apps to be more compatible with its platform. Furthermore, such revocations occurred seven years prior to the suit being filed. This effectively renders it moot.The judge rejects Facebook's claim that the FTC couldn't have put in question its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook could have been forced to sell both services or require regulatory approval in order to purchase future Facebook products.The court points out that despite the scrutiny of these acquisitions being scrutinized, it highlights the unusually lengthy review process that was conducted by the FTC when Instagram sought to acquire Facebook. The document states that the conditions of the acquisition satisfied the agency's concerns. In August, more than four months after the announcement of the merger, the Commission voted 50 in favor to allow the merger to proceed without any conditions or challenges.Facebook and the FTC could not be reached immediately for comment.Facebook, which is a Big Tech company, now faces more legislation. A new bill has been proposed that will allow them to control the market.
