Facebook to face DOJ antitrust investigation, report says

Less than a month after a group of state attorneys general opened an investigation into Facebook over potential antitrust violations, a report on Wednesday claims the U.S. Department of Justice will soon begin its own inquiry into the social network's business practices.

Citing a source familiar with the matter, Reuters reports the DOJ is ready to probe Facebook over antitrust issues.

News of the pending investigation arrives after a cadre of state attorneys general, led by New York, officially announced an examination of possible anticompetitive conduct stemming from Facebook's "dominance in the industry." Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia are involved in the investigation.

Facebook in July revealed it was being scrutinized over similar antitrust issues by the Federal Trade Commission, a body that fined the company $5 billion that same month over privacy violations related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee is also delving into the social media giant's business practices.

Government agencies earlier this year initiated a wide-roving review of major tech industry players Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. Previous reports indicated the DOJ would handle Apple and Google, while the FTC takes on Amazon and Facebook. As noted in today's report, the Justice Department more recently announced plans to probe certain unnamed online platforms, a move that sparked concerns of overlap with FTC operations. It seems Facebook will face examination by both agencies.

Google earlier this month confirmed a DOJ investigation was underway, with the search monolith later saddled with an antitrust probe involving state attorneys general representing all 50 states.

Apple has so far avoided a formal investigation, but lawmakers appear to be circling. In September, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law included Apple in a requested for documents pertaining to competition problems and anticompetitive conduct, among other issues.

The subcommittee asked Apple for information regarding so-called "Sherlocking" of apps and software features, limitations applied to parental control apps and App Store policies.

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4 Comments

cgWerks

said about 4 years ago

I really wish we could just put this company out of their misery. Maybe we should should just convene some kind of international court and rule the shut-down of them and any related companies for crimes against humanity. The world would be a much better place.

ArpL

said about 4 years ago

Or just take it over, remove all the advertising & algorithms, make it privacy-oriented, and turn it into a public utility. $5/mo would keep it profitable, revenue that can be used for other public works.

lkrupp

said about 4 years ago

cgWerks said:

I really wish we could just put this company out of their misery. Maybe we should should just convene some kind of international court and rule the shut-down of them and any related companies for crimes against humanity. The world would be a much better place.

Maybe the enlightened techies of the world hate Facebook but it is still growing with millions upon millions of users using it every day. Maybe you can pound your chest about how you deleted your FB account or never signed up but the world thinks otherwise. It’s sort of like the trolls who want to see Apple destroyed because they just don't like the company.

cgWerks

said about 4 years ago

lkrupp said:
Maybe the enlightened techies of the world hate Facebook but it is still growing with millions upon millions of users using it every day. Maybe you can pound your chest about how you deleted your FB account or never signed up but the world thinks otherwise. It’s sort of like the trolls who want to see Apple destroyed because they just don't like the company.

Oh yeah, it isn't going to happen. But, one can wish.

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