Gate – Gizmodo

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed an antitrust complaint brought by American authorities Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook, arguing that the agency’s evidence did not sufficiently establish that the social media giant had monopoly power over other social media platforms. Following the news, Facebook’s stock price surged, pushing the company’s valuation to over $1 trillion.

In its initial complaint, the FTC accused Facebook of controlling more than 60 percent of the social media market, leading to a de facto monopoly that has existed since at least 2011, comparable to “no other social network… in the United States.” A separate lawsuit brought by a group of state attorneys general sought to overturn Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that these deals in particular were part and parcel of these types of anti-competitive tactics Facebook has been using it for a long time to ensure that the company maintains its dominant position in social networks. That lawsuit was also dismissed, with the court ruling that the states waited too long to challenge Facebook’s acquisition of the companies, which were acquired in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

In dismissing the complaints on Monday, Judge James E. Boasberg wrote that the FTC’s argument was almost fluid – “…almost as if the agency expected the Court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopoly.”

“The FTC has failed to present sufficient facts to convincingly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 allegations, namely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for personal social networking (PSN) services,” Boasberg wrote. “The complaint contains nothing on this subject other than the bare allegation that the company had and still holds a ‘dominant share of this market (over 60%)’.”

News of the firing will likely be a bright spot for Facebook, which is currently one of several companies in its crosshairs bipartisan antitrust package recently raised in the House of Representatives. The legislation aims to bring Big Tech to justice, focusing on dismantling the market control that currently benefits companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.

The news was also good news for investors, who rallied on Monday to boost Facebook’s stock price $355.64, an increase of 4.2%.. The boost raised the company’s value to $1.01 trillion, putting it in the company of other tech giants that have reached the trillion-dollar mark, including Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft.

But instead of quelling rising antitrust sentiment in Washington, news of Monday’s firing seemed to galvanize lawmakers.

“Today’s developments in the FTC v. Facebook case demonstrate that antitrust reform is urgently needed,” said Representative Ken Buck (R-CO), ranking member of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, – he wrote in a tweet on Monday. “Congress must provide additional tools and resources to our antitrust enforcers to pursue Big Tech companies that engage in anticompetitive behavior.”

Updated at 9:25 a.m. ET, June 29: Information was added about the stock market’s reaction to this news, which increased Facebook’s valuation to over $1 trillion.

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