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[eddie4]

Oh snap... its' happening. Facebook got too big.

The Federal Trade Commission sued to break up Facebook on Wednesday, asking a federal court to force the sell-off of assets such as Instagram and WhatsApp.

“Facebook has maintained its monopoly position by buying up companies that present competitive threats and by imposing restrictive policies that unjustifiably hinder actual or potential rivals that Facebook does not or cannot acquire,” the commission said in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.


The lawsuit asks the court to order the “divestiture of assets, divestiture or reconstruction of businesses (including, but not limited to, Instagram and/or WhatsApp),” as well as other possible relief the court might want to add.

src: U.S. government calls for breakup of Facebook (nbcnews.com)

 

[tkscz]

I saw this coming the moment they bought WhatsApp.

 

[Karunamon]

Won't this case likely fall apart the moment Biden gets in?

Repubs love their energy and telecom companies, dems love their tech and media companies.

 

[eddie4]

Won't this case likely fall apart the moment Biden gets in?

Repubs love their energy and telecom companies, dems love their tech and media companies.

Apparently not. We'll see though.

From the article:
"This time, the FTC’s vote to sue was 3-2, with Republican Chairman Joseph Simons joining the commission’s two Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Rohit Chopra, in favor of bringing the suit."

 

[-Arcadia-]

Sometimes bad things happen to bad people, and it’s actually kind of nice.

 

[Karunamon]

"This time, the FTC’s vote to sue was 3-2, with Republican Chairman Joseph Simons joining the commission’s two Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Rohit Chopra, in favor of bringing the suit."

I'll be bamboozled. There could actually be something to this, then. Any dems joining this is sign that it's not going to immediately be written off as Trump sour grapes.

 

[diablos991]

Not going far enough IMO. But a good step is a good step.

 

[Nikana]

 

[StreetsofBeige]

LOL. I didn't know FB even bought Whats App. I use it maybe once a year for family overseas when they forget to just text my cell number.

 

[SlimySnake]

LOL. I didn't know FB even bought Whats App. I use it maybe once a year for family overseas when they forget to just text my cell number.

they paid $20 billion for it too.

 

[Sub_Level]

Thats good if it happens and makes me feel no longer guilty about using instagram.

 

[DESTROYA]

Now it’s googles turn.

 

[CrapSandwich]

Just out of selfish greed, I'd be pretty happy if Oculus got removed from FB.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Fuck yeah and godspeed.

 

[O-N-E]

Something should be done about Disney.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Apparently not. We'll see though.

From the article:
"This time, the FTC’s vote to sue was 3-2, with Republican Chairman Joseph Simons joining the commission’s two Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Rohit Chopra, in favor of bringing the suit."

48 states are joining in, bipartisan support is real.

Facebook has become disgustingly oppressive.

 

[ManofOne]

I was just reading an article that Facebook was ready to monetize whatapp.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ging-app-whatsapp-into-a-moneymaking-business

Something should be done about Disney.

Hands up for princess porn.

 

[sobaka770]

Yep, they should never have allowed FB to buy these companies in the first place.

The only downside is that China won't ever do that to let's say WeChat that has multiple functionalities as well and competition in this space will be fierce.

 

[Super Mario]

Something should be done about Disney.

Maybe. But they don't have a monopoly on TV. Just an awful lot of IPs. Heck, their market value isn't too far off from Netflix either

Also, how great would it be if Parler bought one of these?

 

[Rival]

I deleted

 

[Rentahamster]

I'll buy Whatsapp

 

[GeorgPrime]

The chinese government will buy anything that gets sold from Facebook

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Microsoft to buy Instagram on Thursday and WhatsApp on Friday?

 

[TheContact]

Good. It absolutely needs to be broken up.

 

[ManofOne]

Microsoft to buy Instagram on Thursday and WhatsApp on Friday?

That would violate FTC claims as well since MSFT owns linkedin

 

[Slings and Arrows]

That would violate FTC claims as well since MSFT owns linkedin

It was a joke because they're buying Sega on wednesday

 

[PSYGN]

Good.

 

[Boss Mog]

Anything short of Zuckerberg and Dorsey going to prison for life for crimes against humanity is not enough for me.

 

[Quasicat]

I saw the part that says “including, but not limited to...” and got excited that maybe Oculus would be part of this. I was really excited to get the Quest 2 until the Facebook stuff became mandatory. No thank you to that.

 

[jshackles]

Realistically, will anything come from this? My bets are on "not likely".

 

[Ten_Fold]

That’s cool and all, but what can they do about that SJW app/site known as Twitter? I hate that more than FB/IG.

 

[ManofOne]

Realistically, will anything come from this? My bets are on "not likely".

Realistically likely to fail and be shelved for years.

 

[Dacon]

But not google?

 

[INC]

Microsoft to buy Instagram on Thursday and WhatsApp on Friday?

Right after Sega

 

[IntentionalPun]

But not google?

Alphabet basically exists to prepare for something like that.

But the fed has a bunch of specific internal Facebook emails basically matter of factly outlining that they are buying competition, instead of trying to compete with them.

Which of course is not uncommon, and is exactly what business analysts would say (the have Zuck saying "it is better to buy, then compete").. but it's sort of at the core of anti-competitive practices. Becoming so big and profitable that you can afford to buy the second biggest up and comer (Instagram) instead of competing.

I don't know that the fed has anything like that on Google.

 

[Dacon]

Alphabet basically exists to prepare for something like that.

But the fed has a bunch of specific internal Facebook emails basically matter of factly outlining that they are buying competition, instead of trying to compete with them.

Which of course is not uncommon, and is exactly what business analysts would say (the have Zuck saying "it is better to buy, then compete").. but it's sort of at the core of anti-competitive practices. Becoming so big and profitable that you can afford to buy the second biggest up and comer (Instagram) instead of competing.

I don't know that the fed has anything like that on Google.

Amazon?

 

[Cravis]

Facebook....

 

[slugbahr]

I was just reading an article that Facebook was ready to monetize whatapp.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ging-app-whatsapp-into-a-moneymaking-business



Hands down for princess porn.

Fixed

 

[dorkimoe]

Something should be done about Disney.

Yeah no shit.

 

[Sejan]

Alphabet basically exists to prepare for something like that.

But the fed has a bunch of specific internal Facebook emails basically matter of factly outlining that they are buying competition, instead of trying to compete with them.

Which of course is not uncommon, and is exactly what business analysts would say (the have Zuck saying "it is better to buy, then compete").. but it's sort of at the core of anti-competitive practices. Becoming so big and profitable that you can afford to buy the second biggest up and comer (Instagram) instead of competing.

I don't know that the fed has anything like that on Google.

They don’t necessarily have to have an admission of guilt (though it helps). If they can prove anti-competitive practices, that can be more than enough.

 

[SonorFagoen]

What about Google? Facebook will eventually wither up and die on its own considering there are many better social media alternatives. Google is far more insidious. People can figure out when you get censored and banned very easily that Facebook is shit and a concentration camp.

It's much harder to make the public see Google's censorship since they do it to subtly, yet so much more effective. They took away the vast majority of information and dissenting sources off the internet for most people via biased and regional filter bubble results without having to ban a single person.

 

[MastaKiiLA]

I'll be bamboozled. There could actually be something to this, then. Any dems joining this is sign that it's not going to immediately be written off as Trump sour grapes.

I dont know if hate for FB is political. I think Trump liked to complain about being censored, and the left liked to complain that he wasn't censored enough. There's a general disdain for how they handled user information in the past, and their continued reluctance to fact-check or limit the spread of disinformation. Breaking them up won't really force them to modify their policies in that regard, but it should limit their ability to shape the way news is discussed in the west. That is, for the depressingly large number of mopes who get their news via social media. I only get visa information on social media, and only from one reliable expat source. Otherwise, I don't touch FB or IG, and Line app is far more popular here than Whatsapp.

 

[llien]

That was the only major somewhat (compared to others) conservative friendly resource, folks, that didn't bend over for the Great Woke Overlords (remember the "<large company> suspended advertising campaign on FB... for X weeks" news?)

So, bad news for conservatives.

As for "buys competitors", so do most of them, starting with Google.