A number of US states organized a group to sue Meta’s Facebook in the name of antitrust. The US Chamber of Commerce seems to be on Facebook’s side. It called on an appeals court in Washington, DC to dismiss the case.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Computer and Communications Industry Association, and Business Roundtable argued that the district court judge was right to dismiss the lawsuit.
In July last year, a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia dismissed the appeal, citing the lateness of states to file lawsuits over the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions. Facebook acquired Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014.
A group of 46 states, Guam, the District of Columbia argued that the judge was wrong in claiming that the prosecution was too late, and the group asked the appeals court to resume the prosecution.
The group argues that Facebook’s exclusivity actions violated the law, with Facebook implementing a so-called buy or bury strategy, but bodies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce disagreed, calling the stance suspicious and dangerous.