Facebook asks court to dismiss FTC anti-trust lawsuit

As per details, in a court filing on Wednesday in Washington, Facebook stated that the lawsuit by the FTC has ignored that the agency approved the company’s purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

The filing is Facebook’s first formal response to the FTC complaint.

The FTC and 45 other states sued Facebook for anti-competitive behavior in December.

The lawsuits stated that the tech giant neutralizes competitors by buying WhatsApp and Instagram and requested the breaking up of the company.

Facebook argued that the suits fail to provide enough evidence that it engaged in anti-competitive practices.

A Facebook spokesperson in a statement said, "Over the many years since the government cleared the Instagram and WhatsApp mergers, this competition has only gotten more fierce, and consumers have benefitted enormously from Facebook's investments in these free apps".

"The government ignores these realities and attempts to rewrite history with its unprecedented lawsuit," added spokesperson.

On the other hand, the US President Joe Biden is planning on stacking his administration with antitrust advocates.

The states and FTC have until April 7 to formally respond to the court.