Four tech companies sue Facebook over competition law violations

Four technology companies have filed a lawsuit against Facebook in US federal court in San Francisco. The lawsuit stems from the company's anti-competitive behavior, which, according to the applicants, improperly blocked developers from accessing its platform in order to harm potential competitors. The companies are demanding that Mark Zuckerberg give up powers that allow him to exercise "unquestionable control over the company."

The lawsuit was initiated by four companies, namely Beehive Biometric, which worked in the field of creating identity verification systems, online store Circl, credit and financial services provider Lenddo, and Reveal Chat, which owns a messaging application. Notably, Circl and Beehive Biometric are now defunct, while Reveal Chat became part of the music streaming service Rhapsody a few years ago.

Among other things, the statement of claim states that Facebook's anti-competitive practices allowed the company to become "one of the largest illegal monopolies ever to exist in the United States." It is noted that the company is the owner of the most popular social networks and messaging services, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. The plaintiffs are confident that the planned integration of the mentioned services with the social network Facebook will lead to Zuckerberg’s company destroying competition for a long period of time.

“Facebook faced an existential threat from mobile apps, and while the company could compete fairly with them, it chose to use its power to deliberately eliminate competitors. Facebook knowingly used its developer platform, spyware and surveillance infrastructure, and economic power to destroy or buy any companies that could compete,” said lawyer Yavar Bathaee, who is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“We operate in a competitive environment where people and advertisers have many options. In the current environment, when plaintiffs’ lawyers see financial opportunities, such statements are not unexpected, but they do not deserve attention,” a Facebook representative commented on the situation.

Source: 3dnews.ru