The Trifecta of High Tech Scumbags-Facebook, Twitter, Google, need to be taken down a notch or three.

"The Federal Trade Commission today sued Facebook, alleging that the company is illegally maintaining its personal social networking monopoly through a years-long course of anticompetitive conduct. Following a lengthy investigation in cooperation with a coalition of attorneys general of 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, the complaint alleges that Facebook has engaged in a systematic strategy—including its 2012 acquisition of up-and-coming rival Instagram, its 2014 acquisition of the mobile messaging app WhatsApp, and the imposition of anticompetitive conditions on software developers—to eliminate threats to its monopoly."

https://www.ftc.gov/news-event...legal-monopolization

Facebook is facing a lawsuit filed by 48 states for monopoly practices and the FTC is joining with supportive legal action. NY Attorney General Latitia James held a news conference to announce the antitrust lawsuit using Instagram & WhatsApp as examples.

I am having a hard time understanding the legal ground for this.

If I own a company which provides a product / service and, see where the new kid on the block has designed a product which will compete with mine and thereby dilute my market share; why can i not buy the competitor's (or forecasted competitor) intellectual property for an agreed upon amount?

Isn't that part of capitalism? Buying out your competitor(s)?

Im no lawyer but I bet it has to do with that last sentence: “The imposition of anticompetitive conditions against software developers to eliminate threats to its monopoly.”

Presumably illegally.

quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:
Im no lawyer but I bet it has to do with that last sentence: “The imposition of anticompetitive conditions against software developers to eliminate threats to its monopoly.”

Presumably illegally.

Let's look at it this way; Strambo Inc has developed a software/product which has the potential to directly complete against LS1 GTO Inc's product or may dilute the market share. So a decision is made to offer Strambo $100M for the IP. Strambo accepts the offer.

Same thing occurs with Para Inc, Sig Monkey Inc, Arcwelder Inc, and so on down the line. All accept.

What was wrong with this again?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
I am having a hard time understanding the legal ground for this.

If I own a company which provides a product / service and, see where the new kid on the block has designed a product which will compete with mine and thereby dilute my market share; why can i not buy the competitor's (or forecasted competitor) intellectual property for an agreed upon amount?

Isn't that part of capitalism? Buying out your competitor(s)?

And the FTC (or whoever) has already previous approved your purchases of these companies.

I don't care about the technicalities , if they can put the crunch on anti-conservative Facebook, have at it !

Tell me how much does it cost to use Facebook?

Tell me why you are forced to use it?

It could go away tomorrow and my life would be no better or worse.

So they are going to fix this just like the phone companies right?

Sounds like Farcebook isn’t paid up with the right swamp creatures.

Here is a good explanation:

A monopoly is when a company has exclusive control over a good or service in a particular market. Not all monopolies are illegal. For example, businesses might legally corner their market if they produce a superior product or are well managed. Antitrust law doesn’t penalize successful companies just for being successful. Competitors may be at a legitimate disadvantage if their product or service is inferior to the monopolist’s.

But monopolies are illegal if they are established or maintained through improper conduct, such as exclusionary or predatory acts. This is known as anticompetitive monopolization.

How Illegal Monopolies Exploit the Market

Here are some examples of how illegal monopolies unfairly exploit their market power:

Price Discrimination: selling similar goods to buyers at different prices
Exclusive Dealings: requiring a buyer or seller to do buy or sell all or most of a certain product from a single supplier
Tying Contract: selling a product or service on the condition that the buyer agrees to also buy a different product or service
Law Prohibiting Illegal Monopolies

Anticompetitive monopolization violates federal antitrust law, notably the Sherman Antitrust Act, and are prohibited by state antitrust law, including the Cartwright Act in California.

Under federal and some state laws, private parties (businesses or consumers) who were harmed by anticompetitive conduct can bring antitrust lawsuits seeking damages (in some instance treble damages) and injunctive relief.

https://www.classlawgroup.com/...-practices/monopoly/

I hate that company. Never had an account.

I hope they get taken apart.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news...-empire?srnd=premium

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Tell me how much does it cost to use Facebook?
Tell me why you are forced to use it?
It could go away tomorrow and my life would be no better or worse.
So they are going to fix this just like the phone companies right?

I'm with you. I'm not a fan of Facebook. I don't use it. I encourage others NOT to use it. I think YOU are the product. What does it cost? That's hard to say. You don't pay with money. You give them your soul. You are being used and manipulated by Facebook. But you don't have to be there. No one is forced to use it.

I'm also not a fan of anti-trust law. I understand why they broke up the Standard Oil Company, but I'm not sure I agree with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Tell me how much does it cost to use Facebook?

Tell me why you are forced to use it?

It could go away tomorrow and my life would be no better or worse.

So they are going to fix this just like the phone companies right?

Been my position all along. Same with Twitter and the rest of them. Besides being anti conservative I think they are a detriment to society overall. I have never once had a account with any of these platforms. All the complaining done here by people for their news suppression about the vote and politics how many chose to abandon the platform? I think ensigmatic was the only one I recall and kudo's to him.

Most people will complain about them but have their personal reasons why they have to keep their account activated. This is one problem that could be solved today simply by the people not using the platform. No need for government intervention and then complaining about how or why that's done.