Thread by @econliberties

The @FTC today filed a revised suit providing detailed proof of @Facebook’s >60% market share + laying out the copy-acquire-kill strategy @Facebook has used to build this unprecedented and dangerous power.

THREAD 🧵👇

2/ This case represents today’s new-look @FTC jumping at a chance to right the commission’s previous wrongs.

It includes a strong Section 2 claim and clearly explains the anticompetitive nature of @Facebook acquisitions of @WhatsApp and @Instagram.

3/ Today’s news is therefore a huge and promising step toward restoring the promise of the American economy.

It shows the new leadership at @FTC is committed to pursuing economic fairness and meaningful competition, no matter how powerful the enemies it makes doing so.

4/ So, let’s dive in. Why is @Facebook’s rollup of @WhatsApp and @Instagram such a big deal?

Since buying out its competitors, @Facebook has weakened consumer privacy protections, and attained a dangerous dominance over the internet’s attention span.

5/ Indeed, @Facebook wields its power over our eyeballs to shocking and damaging effect.

It propagates vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories. It extorts small businesses. It destroys local news. It endangers the mental health of our kids.

6/ As Mark Zuckerberg has admitted — in internal emails he tried to obfuscate when called out by Congress — these mergers were anticompetitive by design:
theverge.com/2020/7/29/2134…

7/ Today’s news also spotlights work that must be done by lawmakers.

The @FTC was forced to re-file this case because Congress has allowed a murky, confusing, and too-narrow judicial interpretation of once-strong antitrust laws to take root.

8/ Lawmakers neglected antitrust enforcement for generations, and in some cases intentionally weakened it. They must act now to reverse this erosion and restore true competition to our economy.

9/ It took courage, hard work, and commitment for the agency to rebuild the suit and re-tool it under immense deadline pressure imposed by the court.

Today’s re-filed complaint proves that Big Tech is right to be afraid of the rising momentum for antitrust action in Washington.

10/ They are afraid because the government is remembering that it does in fact have the power to combat the malignant anticompetitive business practices of monopolists like @Facebook and @Google.

11/ They are afraid because a case like this exposes the lie at the heart of @Facebook’s business model: Individual users are not @Facebook’s customers. We are its product — and @Facebook will go to extremes to ensure nobody else gets to sell us to advertisers.

12/ The result? One corporate titan, accountable to no-one, has near-total control over the fastest-growing social and economic space in our world.

A faceless monopoly sets the terms for how local entrepreneurs market their services and how our political process operates.

13/ @Facebook’s dangerous unilateral authority over our society must end. Our democracy, our markets, and our communities cannot survive under the thumb of a self-styled “private government.”

14/14 We applaud the @FTC’s bold leadership & hard work in bringing this action. And we hope members of Congress rise to meet the moment and revive antitrust policy, and break from the failed consumer-welfare standard that has fostered our new Gilded Age.
economicliberties.us/press-release/…