Texas Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Facebook

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton announced today that Texas filed suit against Facebook for violating antitrust laws by monopolizing the market for personal social networking services. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and charges Facebook with violating federal antitrust statutes prohibiting monopolization and illegal mergers.

Texas is joined by the United States Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of 47 other attorneys general in challenging Facebook’s monopolistic practices, including its aggressive strategy to buy or bury potential rivals.

“The States’ investigation revealed that Facebook protected its monopoly by identifying competitive threats and either absorbing them through acquisition or neutralizing them through exclusionary conduct,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The law enforcement action filed today exposes its illegal conduct and should ultimately restore competition in social networking for the benefit of millions of users in Texas and the United States as well as businesses that advertise on Facebook.”

According to the AG’s office, the result of Facebook’s illegal conduct is a reduction in competition that harms its users and advertisers. Facebook’s activities have reduced the quality of user experience, suppressed innovation, blocked product improvements, and degraded privacy protections.

Therefore, its advertisers suffered from higher quality-adjusted prices, less transparency to assess the value they receive from ads and harm to their brands due to offensive content appearing on the platform.

Read a copy of the filing here.