Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement after the Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan group of 48 state and territorial attorneys general led by New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against Facebook, challenging Facebook’s unlawful and anticompetitive behavior, including its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

“The suits brought today against Facebook by a bipartisan group of more than 48 state and territorial attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission are critical for restoring competition and innovation in digital markets — and sending a loud and clear message that Facebook is not above the law,” said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project and Co-Chair of Freedom from Facebook and Google.

“Since its founding, Facebook has acquired more than 80 companies and brands, often primarily to destroy competitive threats. It is now one the world’s most dangerous monopolies – a corporation built to surveil users, sell intimate data, and supercharge misinformation, conspiracy theories, and propaganda,” added Miller.

“By challenging Facebook, this coalition of state attorneys general and the FTC are standing up for the communities, small businesses, and local newspapers targeted or decimated by Facebook’s toxic business model,” said Miller, “The FTC in particular has an opportunity to right its own wrongs. Not only did the FTC turn a blind eye to Facebook’s brazenly anticompetitive acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, it also failed to impose structural remedies when Facebook flouted its 2011 consent decree.”

“On the heels of DOJ’s historic antitrust suit against Google, and the House Antitrust Subcommittee’s deeply researched report on Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple’s monopoly power, these cases mark a new era of antitrust enforcement and are proof positive that the anti-monopoly movement is here to stay,” added Miller. 

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Economic Liberties works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.