[20210216]LSB10575_Facebook反垄断诉讼与合并执法的未来.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebar The Facebook Antitrust Lawsuits and the Future of Merger Enforcement February 16, 2021 In December 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group of 46 state attorneys general (state AGs) filed separate antitrust lawsuits against Facebook. Both lawsuits challenge the same conduct: Facebooks acquisitions of the photo-sharing service Instagram and the messaging app WhatsApp, and its treatment of software developers whose apps compete with Facebook products. Both complaints also seek noteworthy remediesdivestitures of Instagram and WhatsApp, plus limitations on Facebooks ability to engage in future mergers and acquisitions. This Sidebar reviews the lawsuits, flags the legal issues on which they will likely turn, and discusses proposals to amend the existing merger-enforcement regime. The Lawsuits The FTC and state AGs accuse Facebook of unlawfully monopolizing the market for “personal social networking services.” Their factual allegations are similar. In a nutshell, the complaints assert that Facebook has cemented its dominance in social networking by purchasing promising rivals rather t