FIRST IN MT: MAYBE BIG IS ACTUALLY BAD? — Ahead of the hearing this morning, the American Economic Liberties Project is out with new research on competition suits and investigations into big companies. The anti-monopoly group found that of the 76 U.S. corporations valued at more than $100 billion, 80 percent have been subject to antitrust scrutiny in the past 30 years. “When firms are too big, they tend to abuse their dominance through illegal business practices,” the group said. What do the tech companies have to say about that?

FACEBOOK: WE’RE NOT A MONOPOLY — The social network on Wednesday finally hit back at the FTC and state attorneys general, who filed twin antitrust suits against the company in December over its acquisitions and efforts to cut off access to rivals. In a pair of filings, Facebook asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to throw out the lawsuits. More on Facebook’s arguments and strategy here, from Leah.

— While the FTC and states have until next month to officially respond to Facebook, New York Attorney General Tish James, who is leading the state effort, offered some immediate reaction: “Facebook is wrong on the law and wrong on our complaint. We are confident in our case, which is why almost every state in this nation has joined our bipartisan lawsuit to end Facebook’s illegal conduct.”

AND GOOGLE: WE SUPPORT NEWS. REALLY — Ahead of (what is likely to be) a shellacking on Friday at the House Judiciary antitrust hearing on how online platforms affect journalism, Google is highlighting how it seeks to support news. The online search giant this morning is debuting a new microsite on how it helps journalism, claiming for itself the title of “one of the world’s biggest financial supporters of journalism.”