47 States Join Hands in a Bipartisan Antitrust Investigation into Facebook
46 state attorneys general have joined a New York-led antitrust investigation into Facebook, confirming bipartisan concerns into the tech giant's increasing control and ability that may have resulted in antitrust violations.
"After continued bipartisan conversations with attorneys full general from effectually the country, today I am announcing that we have vastly expanded the listing of states, districts, and territories investigating Facebook for potential antitrust violations," Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, said in a statement today (emphasis added for clarity).
"Our investigation now has the support of 47 attorneys general from around the nation, who are all concerned that Facebook may have put consumer data at risk, reduced the quality of consumers' choices, and increased the price of advertising. As nosotros go on our investigation, we volition use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook's actions stifled competition and put users at adventure."
"Past working together, state attorneys general are leading the way in ensuring digital platforms respect consumer privacy and do not engage in anticompetitive beliefs," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) added.
Information leaks, acquisitions, and Facebook's increasing focus on ads at "all costs" has attracted this probe
What may have started with the Cambridge Analytica information scandal has at present attracted attention into Facebook's prior acquisitions and potentially questionable business practices. This country-wide sweeping probe of the Silicon Valley tech behemothic could result in massive changes to its business practices.
However, Facebook is also prepared to "go to the mat" against any such efforts that could break it up. Earlier this month, leaked sound clips of an internal Facebook coming together revealed the company primary saying that a Warren presidency will "suck" for Facebook. [Elizabeth Warren has been ane of the about vocal critics of Facebook.]
This was followed by Mark Zuckerberg having a talk at Georgetown University where he defended not doing annihilation to put a ban on outright lies existence used in political ads. The company'south decision to police force the content on its platform except for the political ads has attracted attention from the other side of the Atlantic, equally well, as the UK parliament has demanded to know why Facebook has decided to exempt political statements from its fact-checking programme.
As the WaPo notes, Facebook isn't the only tech giant attracting attention from lawmakers. "Earlier this year, state attorneys full general opened a similar bipartisan probe of Google, an investigation that centers on its advertizing practices and could easily aggrandize to embrace other elements of the company's business," the WaPo reported. The publication added that Washington have divvied up Silicon Valley for further scrutiny with the "Justice Department is probing Facebook and Google while the Federal Trade Committee has started investigating Facebook and Amazon."
"Social media is a critical function of doing concern in today's economic system," Connecticut Chaser Full general William Tong said. "Any effort by Facebook to unlawfully stifle competition could cause wide-ranging harm to smaller companies, restrict consumer choice, and increase costs for all."
Source: https://wccftech.com/47-attorneys-general-facebook-antitrust-probe/
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