The antitrust case against Facebook

Facebook, like its big tech rival Google, argues that people choose their services not because they have to, but because they want to. The social media company has fine-tuned its talking points as Washington's scrutiny has increased, and has settled on a narrative that Facebook welcomes regulation, but that taking strong action could give other countries like China a competitive advantage in the fast-moving technology sector.

"We competed hard and competed fairly," Zuckerberg said in an internal memorandum to employees shortly after the lawsuit was announced. "I'm proud of that." How did we get here?

facebook antitrust

Demands in their current form have been in preparation for more than a year. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced last September that she was leading several of her counterparts in other states in Facebook's investigation into anti-competitive practices, an investigation to which 47 state attorneys general signed a month later. James said at the time that they were "concerned that Facebook might have put consumer data at risk, reduced the quality of consumer choices, and increased the price of advertising."