Facebook’s rulings spark bilateral claims to change U.S. competition law

Congress officials have renewed calls for a review of U.S. competition law after the failure of two major attempts to break Facebook.

It was criticized by Democrats and Republicans decision of the federal court on Monday, the Federal Trade Commission and other states filed a lawsuit against the social media company.

Several said the ruling showed the need to rewrite antitrust rules, for which six major bills were designed. Control the strength of Big Tech They are discussing it on Capitol Hill.

Amy Klobuchar, Democratic chair of the Senate Anti-Competition Committee, he tweeted: “The ruling shows why anti-competitive laws need to be updated after years of bad precedent. We cannot meet the challenges of the modern digital economy with limited agencies and limited legal instruments.”

Former Republican Ken Buck of the anti-domestic competition committee said, “Congress needs to provide additional tools and resources for our anti-competitive executives to behave against the competitiveness of Big Tech companies.”

Many experts expect the FTC to reopen the case against Facebook following a decision by a federal judge on Monday.

Judge James Boasberg said in Washington (DC) through a bruise FTC lawsuit “it wasn’t legal enough” and the federal agency “failed to argue enough of the fact,” that Facebook had a monopoly power in the social media market.

“[W]Despite the hatred that can be hated by the people, “the power of monopoly” is an art term under federal law that has a specific economic meaning: the ability to raise prices profitably or exclude competition in a properly defined market, ”he wrote.

The FTC will have 30 days to file a new complaint. The regulator said in a statement that it is “closely examining the opinion and evaluating the best option for the future.”

Boasberg also ruled out a similar case involving a group of 46 states and two other jurisdictions – led by New York Attorney General Letitia James – on the grounds that the alleged violations occurred too long ago. The New York Attorney General is reviewing the decision.

Facebook’s share price rose more than 4 percent according to the news record $ 357.36, surpassing the company’s $ 1 billion market capitalization for the first time.

“We are pleased that today’s decisions acknowledge the flaws in the complaints filed against Facebook,” the social media group said, adding that Facebook “competes fairly daily to gain people’s time and attention.”

The verdict was a delay for regulators he complained to the company in December anti-competitive behavior.

The FTC said at the time it was seeking sanctions, including forcing it to break from Facebook and Instagram via WhatsApp, a social media giant that made purchases in 2012 and 2014 for $ 1 billion and $ 19 billion, respectively.

But the rulings were mostly shown by those who try to redefine U.S. antitrust laws for the digital age, as members of Congress discuss legislation that would make it easier to prosecute large technology companies.

Regulators have traditionally shown that companies have abused their market power by showing customers that they are unfairly raising prices for customers.

Such as Lina Khan, a famous Big Tech critic and Newly appointed FTC Chair, have argued that companies can abuse their market power without charging anything, either by spoiling services or by asking customers to deliver more personal data.

“The power of Facebook is obvious, and yet we have a judge here who goes into tremendous detail about what makes up the market,” said former FTC President William Kovacic. “The law will be kept as a specific example of why we need to change.”