Facebook asks judge to toss out antitrust suits

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook said Wednesday that it asked a federal district court to dismiss twin lawsuits filed against the company over allegations of violating anticompetition law.

The lawsuits are “attacks on what Facebook did long ago,” the company wrote in a blog post, adding the suits fail to prove that Facebook harmed competition or consumers.

The lawsuits were filed in December by the Federal Trade Commission and 48 states and districts, including Arkansas. They say Facebook has acted as an illegal monopoly for years. The suits were the culmination of months of investigations and primarily took issue with two of Facebook’s largest acquisitions: photosharing app Instagram and popular messaging platform WhatsApp.

Facebook wrote in its blog post that the FTC had not demonstrated that the company holds monopoly power and that the agency had reviewed the Instagram and WhatsApp deals and let them proceed.

“Antitrust laws are intended to promote competition and protect consumers,” the company wrote. “These complaints do not credibly claim that our conduct harmed either.”

The lawsuits are perhaps the most significant legal threats to Facebook’s business in its more than 16-year history and demonstrate the government’s changing attitudes toward Facebook and its fellow tech giants. Once darlings of industry, the companies have been positioned by critics as the poster children of corporate greed and market power.

The chief executives of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon testified before Congress last summer in a high-profile grilling over antitrust concerns. Another hearing with some of the same executives has been scheduled for this month. Various regulatory agencies and state attorneys general have been investigating the companies, too.

The platforms have been accused of violating consumer privacy, as well as unfairly shutting out competitors and restricting the market with major acquisitions and by controlling multiple pieces of major business lines.

The Justice Department in October sued Google over antitrust concerns, saying the company relied on a mix of special agreements and other problematic business practices to secure a dominant position in online search.

The FTC and states followed with their suits against Facebook in December, setting up an ongoing showdown against big technology companies.

The state attorneys general characterized Facebook’s strategy toward competitors as “buy-or-bury.”