US government sues Facebook and demands it’s dismantled for ‘unfairly’ crushing competition

Cases claim purchases of rivals Instagram and WhatsApp destroyed threats to company

The US government has sued Facebook and demanded that it is dismantled for “unfairly” crushing its competition.

The Federal Trade Commission and 48 states accused the social media giant of being a monopoly that has illegally eliminated competition by buying up its rivals.

The separate lawsuits claim that the firm’s purchases, particularly Instagram for $1bn in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 for $19bn, destroyed competition that could have challenged their industry dominance.

With the purchases Facebook, which is now valued at more than $800bn, controlled three of the most popular social media and messaging apps.

The antitrust legal action was announced by New York attorney general Letitia James.

"For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition,” said Ms James.

"Facebook used vast amounts of money to acquire potential rivals before they could threaten the company’s dominance."

The FTC filed its own lawsuit against Facebook in Washington DC federal court on Wednesday.

“The FTC is seeking a permanent injunction in federal court that could, among other things: require divestitures of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp; prohibit Facebook from imposing anticompetitive conditions on software developers; and require Facebook to seek prior notice and approval for future mergers and acquisitions,” it said in statement.

If the suits are successful it could lead to the first court-ordered break-up of a US company in years.

“Personal social networking is central to the lives of millions of Americans,” said Ian Conner, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.

 "Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition. 

“Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”

Facebook said that the company would review the filings against them.

“We're reviewing the complaints and will have more to say soon,” the company said on social media.

“Years after the FTC cleared our acquisitions, the government now wants a do-over with no regard for the impact that precedent would have on the broader business community or the people who choose our products every day.”

In October the Justice Department and attorney generals in 11 states filed antitrust cases against Google.