The Federal Trade Commission has a long-standing history of pursuing antitrust enforcement in accordance with the law. However, as with their previous filing against Facebook, today’s filing shows the Federal Trade Commission hasn’t done its homework. Since the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust enforcement case against Facebook lacks facts and ignores the law, the Commission has resorted to building their case around politics.
NetChoice today criticized the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to re-file in their case against Facebook—a case that cannot be properly made under the consumer welfare standard.
“The Federal Trade Commission doesn’t have a case. Under Chair Khan’s activist agenda, the FTC is ignoring antitrust law and charging headlong into another inevitable loss in the Courts. By refusing to accept the existence of vibrant competition in the social media market, the FTC is harming their credibility by pursuing a poorly constructed antitrust case,” said Carl Szabo, Vice President and General Counsel at NetChoice.
“This is about egos and ideology, not the impact of private actions on American consumers. It’s proving harder and harder to separate Chair Khan’s grudge against big businesses from the continued effort to generate an antitrust argument when none exists,” continued Szabo. “By setting itself on a collision course with the law, the FTC is undermining its reputation as a neutral arbiter that bases decisions on market-based evidence, abuse of power, or consumer harm.”