Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement after Meta filed a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission, claiming “fundamental aspects of the Commission’s structure violate the U.S. Constitution.”

“Meta’s lawsuit is a baseless attack on the FTC’s authority, granted to it by Congress. The Commission was established over a century ago to protect consumers from predatory, unfair, and anticompetitive businesses that erode our democracy when left unchecked.” said Katherine Van Dyck, Senior Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Over, and over, and over again, Meta has shown itself willing to break the law and sacrifice users’ safety and privacy for profits. This lawsuit isn’t just an evasion of oversight; it would set a dangerous precedent that would allow corporations to declare any attempt to hold them accountable as unconstitutional. Following similar attempts from Microsoft to undermine the Commission’s authority, this lawsuit represents an alarming escalation in monopolists’ attempts to evade legal scrutiny, and it should be seen for what it is: a self-serving maneuver that puts profit and private interest above public good.”

Meta, previously Facebook, has been fined dozens of times for privacy violations, with a $400 million fine as recently as last year specifically for its harvesting and abuse of children’s data. Meta has also been caught allowing at least 13 million child sex abuse images to be shared across its platforms, misleading parents about security controls, and targeting children as young as 6 with advertising. It has previously been fined billions of dollars for regular abuse of user privacy.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project 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.