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Washington (AP) - The US government and 48 states are suing Facebook on charges of unfair competition.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a non-partisan alliance of states led by New York Justice Secretary Letitia James accuse Facebook of having built an illegal monopoly in their respective lawsuits on Wednesday.
Among other things, the takeover of the photo service Instagram in 2012 and the chat service WhatsApp in 2014 by Facebook are denounced.
The FTC accuses Facebook of having pursued a “systematic strategy” through these acquisitions to eliminate threats to its own monopoly.
One possible measure proposed in the lawsuit is to force Facebook to sell individual business units.
In recent years, the group had already brought together the technical infrastructure behind the platform of its online network, as well as Instagram and WhatsApp.
That would make a split technically more difficult.
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New York Attorney General James said: "Facebook has used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and wipe out competition, all at the expense of everyday users."
The lawsuit is intended to send a clear message to Facebook and other companies: that attempts to stifle competition, impede innovation, or curtail privacy protection would be pursued with vigor by the state justice ministers.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201209-99-634123 / 3