Judge allows Federal Trade Commission's latest suit against Facebook to move forward

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/11/ [login to see] /judge-allows-federal-trade-commissions-latest-suit-against-facebook-to-move-forw
The Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit against Facebook can proceed, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, delivering a major win for the agency after its first attempt at targeting the company's alleged monopoly power was dismissed for lack of evidence.

This time, however, the judge found that federal regulators have offered enough proof to argue that Facebook's acquisition strategy — particularly its takeover of Instagram and WhatsApp — is driven by a "buy or bury" ethos. In other words, that Facebook allegedly gobbles up competitors in order to maintain an illegal monopoly.

"Although the agency may well face a tall task down the road in proving its allegations, the Court believes that it has now cleared the pleading bar and may proceed to discovery," wrote U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, noting that "the FTC has now alleged enough facts to plausibly establish that Facebook exercises monopoly power in the market for [personal social networking] services."