Apple Eyes Chinese Memory Chips as AI Shortage Pressures iPhone Supply Chain 
US Jobs Report Preview: June Payroll Growth Seen Slowing as Fed Rate Decision Looms 
Oil Prices Steady as U.S.-Iran Talks Ease Supply Fears Ahead of Holiday Weekend 
Lockheed Martin Emerges as Frontrunner to Acquire Ultra Maritime in $3.5 Billion Defense Deal 
Switch Seeks $2 Billion Funding at Nearly $50 Billion Valuation Ahead of Potential IPO 
Northern Star Appoints New CEO as Activist Elliott Pushes for Leadership Overhaul 
Australia Trade Balance Swings to Surprise Deficit as Imports Outpace Exports in May 
South Korea Warns Won Is Undervalued, Boosts FX Coordination With Japan 
Goldman Sachs Says China Competition Weighs More on EU Growth Than Trade Deficit 
Moody’s Says Peru’s President-Elect Keiko Fujimori Could Boost Investor Confidence 
Anthropic Tightens AI Access Controls After Reports of China-Based Workarounds 
EU Chip Industry Faces Growing Risks From China Export Controls and U.S. Technology Dependence: Report 
Oil Prices Slip as Iran Talks and Strong Supply Outlook Ease Market Concerns 
China Services PMI Beats Forecasts as Strong Demand Supports June Growth 
SoftBank’s LY Corp, Bain Raise Kakaku.com Bid to ¥670 Billion, Intensifying Takeover Battle 
Super Micro Employees Detained in Taiwan AI Server Export Investigation 
Kawasaki Heavy Shares Slide on Report of ¥200 Billion Capital Raise Plan 
Facebook is under scrutiny again after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a new antitrust complaint against it. The move is said to be a fresh attempt for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media form to sell its other assets - Instagram and WhatsApp.
In the FTC’s new complaint against Facebook, it accused the company of monopoly. The filing of the latest antitrust case last week came just as FB made an announcement about its new virtual reality (VR) meeting application.
According to The Independent, the commission accused Facebook of operating a monopoly in the United States as it is also operating Instagram at the same time. In the filing, the antitrust regulator also stated that the social media giant continued to operate in a way where it uses the firms it acquired to create a protective channel around its personal social networking monopoly.
The FTC said that if this will not be stopped, Facebook will keep on buying companies. This is said to be the buy-or-bury scheme which is illegal and being utilized to maintain market dominance.
Based on the explanations in the complaint, Facebook failed to develop significant innovations on its app, so it just bought its competitors such as WhatsApp and Instagram. These companies were said to have succeeded in developing features that Facebook was not able to accomplish.
Zuckerberg’s company is now being urged to get rid of the said firms to break them up and avoid a monopoly on social networking. The FTC further said that as Facebook also owns other popular sites, it is hard for other similar firms to compete.
“Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile. After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat,” FTC’s acting director of the bureau of competition, Holly Vedova, said in a press release. “This conduct is no less anti-competitive than if Facebook had bribed emerging app competitors not to compete and the antitrust laws were enacted to prevent precisely this type of illegal activity by monopolists.”
Finally, in response, Facebook said that the renewed lawsuit filed by FTC is meritless. It explained that its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram were cleared after a review and the company’s policies are lawful.
