This decision highlights the urgent need to modernize antitrust laws to address anticompetitive merges and abusive conduct within the digital economy. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D.N.Y.), and antitrust subcommittee chair David Cicilline (D.R.I.) made the statement Monday, four days following the passage of a package bill to rein in big tech companies. According to the FTC and 48 state attorneys general, Facebook is a monopolist and has used its monopoly power in order to buy and bury competitors.According to Colorado Rep. Ken Buck (top Republican on Cicillines panel) the ruling shows the urgent need for antitrust reform. He is the co-sponsor to legislation that would make it easier for FTC and Justice Department to disintegrate Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon.The judges' ruling boosted Facebook's market value to $1 trillion. This prompted an increase in the stock price. Only four U.S. businesses are worth more than Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, as well as Alphabet, Google's parent company.The tech antitrust crusade in Washington and all of the other capitals has been gaining strength, but Monday's court ruling is a significant setback. Two months after Google was sued by the Justice Department, the FTC filed a suit against Facebook. The FTC sought to end the company's alleged social media monopoly.President Joe Biden raised hopes this month for more aggressive FTC action by naming Lina Khan as the chair of the agency. Lina Khan is a progressive advocate for tougher antitrust enforcement against Amazon.Boasbergs ruling raises questions about the results Khan and FTCs Democratic majority can deliver given federal courts general skepticism about some aggressive theories regarding antitrust enforcement.The judge criticized the agency's claim that Facebook holds 60% of the market for social media services. Boasberg stated that the FTC and state prosecutors weren't open to discussing Facebooks market share. They also didn't provide any examples of other competitors, other than defunct and largely unused services such as Path, MySpace, and Friendster.Boasberg wrote that it almost seems as if Facebook expects the Court simply to accept the conventional wisdom of a monopolist.Facebook claims it is not a monopoly as it faces competition from other platforms that allow users to interact and send messages. These include Googles YouTube and Apples iMessage as well as other social networking sites such Snapchat, Twitter and LinkedIn.Lindsay Kryzak, spokesperson for FTC, stated that the agency was reviewing the opinion closely and assessing the best options forward.Facebook applauded the recognition of the flaws in the government suits.Christopher Sgro, spokesperson for the company said that they compete fairly daily to win people's attention and deliver great products to people and businesses who use them.Charlotte Slaiman, a tech advocate group Public Knowledge, stated that the FTC's decision against Facebook is a setback. However, it does not mean the end of the case. The judge allowed the FTC to file an amended complaint that included additional details and addressed his concerns until July 31st.Boasbergs could be abandoned by the agency and the complaint could be filed in the agency's in-house court. This option was considered by the FTCs commissioners last year before they decided to file in federal court with the states. This process can take longer than federal court litigation.FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who was acting chair of agency from January to earlier this month, voted in favor the Facebook case. She also acknowledged at a June conference that the court may block the agency's attempts to handle more high-profile antitrust cases.Slaughter stated, "If the courts don't like it, that's a good argument for our legislators to argue this is a problem in the law, and not a failure at the agency, or a lack understanding with markets."Antitrust advocates said that this ruling gives Congress more reason to intervene.According to Hakeem Jeffries (New York Rep.), a progressive Democrat who was the lead sponsor of a bill (H.R. 3826 (117), which would restrict the tech giants ability buy up potential competitors. This legislation is intended to prevent transactions such as Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram.Jeffries stated that we cannot allow this behavior to go unchecked.These bills will face opposition from moderate Democrats as well as some Republicans, particularly lawmakers from Silicon Valley's home state of California, which could make it difficult for them to be enacted. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and the top GOP member of House Judiciary oppose the legislation. Instead, they support proposals to accelerate antitrust cases to be sent to the Supreme Court.Amy Klobuchar, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee (D-Minn.), stated that the FTC should do all it can to pursue an antitrust case against Facebook. She said that the FTC's decision shows why Congress needs to give it stronger tools.She stated that after decades of antitrust decisions by the Supreme Court, which have been binding, we can't rely on our courts for fair and competitive markets.Senator Richard Blumenthal (D.Conn.), a former state attorney-general before he joined Senate, said that the decision shows how badly our antitrust laws are.Stacy Mitchell, codirector of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (small business advocacy group), noted that Boasberg was one of many judges who expressed doubts about antitrust enforcement. In the past, federal prosecutors have failed to win a number of cases. These include the Trump administration's attempt to block AT&T's purchase of Time Warner. There were also two FTC antitrust lawsuits against Qualcomm and 1-800-Contacts, both against contact lens retailer and distributor.Mitchell, an Amazon critic and prominent advocate for antitrust reforms in Congress, stated that the courts have an ingrained tendency to favor concentrated private power and a reflexive impulse not to challenge it. Mitchell stated that antitrust legislation is necessary because of this.Other advocacy groups also suggested that Congress take steps to curb judges who, they claim, have been too favorable towards problematic conduct by large companies.Congress should limit the power granted to courts as decades of troubled jurisprudence that was based on existing law has normalized inaction. David Segal is the executive director at Demand Progress, a left-leaning digital rights group.
