politics

State AGs Appeal Dismissal of Their Antitrust Suit Against Facebook

Brendan McDermid | Reuters
  • A coalition of attorneys general from nearly 50 states and territories appealed a judge's dismissal of its antitrust case against Facebook in a new filing on Friday.
  • The states, led by New York AG Letitia James, argued the judge wrongly dismissed their case.
  • Earlier this week, the district court judge granted the Federal Trade Commission the ability to move forward with its separate case, after initially dismissing its complaint.

A coalition of attorneys general from nearly 50 states and territories appealed a judge's dismissal of its antitrust case against Facebook in a new filing on Friday.

The states, led by New York AG Letitia James, argued the judge wrongly dismissed their case, which alleged Facebook, now known as Meta, illegally maintained monopoly power and made unlawful acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp to foreclose competition.

In June, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg wrote that the long period of time the states waited to challenge the acquisitions was unprecedented on the state level and said its claims about Facebook's attempt to amass power through its data policies were not illegal under antitrust law.

The states argue in their appeal that the court's determination of an unreasonable delay in filing its case "does not apply against sovereign states suing to protect the public interest, like the states here." They also wrote that the judge erred in determining Facebook's data policies could not violate antitrust law.

Additionally, the states argued the district court judge wrongly presumed Facebook stopped the alleged unlawful behavior on its platform by 2018 and that injunctive relief should not be available in that case. But the states argued unlawful conduct continued and that the relief remains available even after the conduct stops.

At the same time that he dismissed the states' case, Boasberg dismissed a similar complaint from the Federal Trade Commission, filed the same day as the states' case, but earlier this week he granted the agency the ability to move forward with its case, after it filed a beefed-up version of its complaint addressing most of the judge's qualms.

"We believe the District Court's decision dismissing the States' complaint was correct, and that there are no grounds for overturning that decision in the Court of Appeals," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

WATCH: How US antitrust law works, and what it means for Big Tech

Copyright CNBC
Contact Us