Meta Withheld Information on Instagram, WhatsApp Deals, FTC Says

Meta Platforms withheld information from federal regulators during their original reviews of the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, the US Federal Trade Commission said in a court filing as part of a lawsuit seeking to break up the social networking giant. From a report: In its filing Tuesday, however, the FTC said the case involves "information Meta had in its files and did not provide" during the original reviews. "At Meta's request the FTC undertook only a limited review" of the deals, the agency said. "The FTC now has available vastly more evidence, including pre-acquisition documents Meta did not provide in 2012 and 2014."

Meta said that it met all of its legal obligations during the Instagram and WhatsApp merger reviews. The FTC has failed to provide evidence to support its claims, a spokesperson said. "The evidence instead shows that Meta faces fierce competition and that Meta's significant investment of time and resources in Instagram and WhatsApp has benefited consumers by making the apps into the services millions of users enjoy today for free," spokesperson Chris Sgro said in a statement. "The FTC has done nothing to build its case over the past four years, while Meta has invested billions to build quality products."

I think this is the real reason

[rsilvergun]

We are going after TikTok. Apart from the Republican party not liking how young people have been organizing politically over there there's the fact that Facebook it has to compete with them for eyeballs and attention and Facebook can't just buy them like they do anything else that starts to attract teenagers.

Facebook has been in a death spiral multiple times where young people don't want to be on the same platform as their parents so they go somewhere else and then those young people grow up and never co

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[Shakrai]

Apart from the Republican party not liking how young people have been organizing politically over there

The distrust of TikTok is bipartisan. It's not a left/right thing.

Facebook can't just buy them like they do anything else that starts to attract teenagers

Facebook wouldn't be able to buy them anyway. Rubber stamp merger approvals are no longer in vogue.

Distrust isn't enough to make Congress act

[rsilvergun]

It takes lobbying and money. Especially when the Republican party is actively blocking all action in the lower house in order to influence the election coming up.

If you know anything about American politics you should know that in the mid-90s a politician named newt Gingrich created a policy called the contract with America whereby he and his party, the Republican party, block any and all legislation so that Democrats end up looking politically ineffective and voters will blame them for the lack of soluti

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[RazorSharp]

TikTok is a giant honey pot. Even if it didn't begin as a giant espionage program, that's what it is.

That's not to say we hold any moral high ground here. The U.S. government with its paradoxical "secret courts" have effectively turned American tech and telecommunications companies into our own espionage program.

In both cases fascist systems of the government applying pressure to private industry to do their dirty work has tainted all social media, cloud services, major email providers, and telecommunicatio

Wow, knock me over with a feather!

[93 Escort Wagon]

Facebook did something shady and withheld information from the government? Who could have seen that coming! They've always been so above-board in their many past interactions with the government...

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[sit1963nz]

I am equally shocked...can someone please think of the children...

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[Morromist]

The FTC should FINE them $70,000 and they should admit no wrongdoing! That will show them! Only the most severe of punshments for these wrong doers!!!