PHOENIX -- Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general from around the nation, continues the fight to end Facebook’s alleged illegal efforts to stifle competition and protect its monopoly power. Today, the coalition filed an appeal asserting that the district court’s ruling dismissing the states’ case was in error.
The coalition alleges that over the last decade, Facebook (now known as Meta), illegally acquired competitors in a predatory manner and cut or conditioned services to smaller competitors. As a result, this deprived users of the benefits of competition and reduced privacy protections and services along the way — all in an effort to boost its bottom line through increased advertising revenue.
In December 2020, the coalition filed a lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia to stop Facebook's anticompetitive conduct. The company filed a motion to dismiss, which was granted by the court last summer. The recent appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asks the court to allow the coalition of attorneys general to move forward with their suit.
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amended complaint against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
AG Brnovich is joined by attorney generals from New York, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the territory of Guam.
Copy of appeal here.
