Monopoly Power? The Federal Trade Commission Wants to Break Up Facebook

Luca Formenti - February 24, 2021

As of 2020, Facebook and its subsidiaries account for an estimated 70% share of the social media market, with roughly 5 billion active monthly users and almost one hundred billion U.S. dollars in ad revenues. While this undeniably powerful position has attracted criticism from politicians and economists for years, the United States’ federal authorities did not directly react to it. This is about to change. On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a lawsuit against the conglomerate for breaking antitrust legislation. The main claim is that Facebook has been explicitly suppressing competition by buying up smaller companies to be able to collect monopoly rents. According to the attorneys filing the case, Facebook forces other companies into being acquired before they even have any possibility to threaten Facebook’s market dominance by cutting off API access.

Monopoly Power? The Federal Trade Commis

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