Facebook value peaks to USD 1 trillion following dismissal of 2 lawsuits

Facebook Inc.’s stock reportedly achieved the USD 1 trillion mark for the first time after an antitrust court victory, making it the fifth U.S. business to achieve this milestone.

A U.S. judge terminated federal and state antitrust lawsuits against the social media giant, ruling that the federal complaint was legally insufficient to compel Facebook to sell WhatsApp and Instagram. Following the judgment, Facebook's stock surged by over 4%, sources cited.

The termination is a major setback for state and federal lawsuits filed against Big Tech giants that are reining in the alleged misuse of market power.

James Boasberg, Judge at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on the matter, mentioned that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) could not prove that Facebook had domination power in the social networking industry, and the FTC might file a fresh lawsuit by July 29.

He also disapproved a case filed by various U.S. states, stating that they prolonged the opposition of Instagram and WhatsApp's acquisitions in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The states were not invited to re-file their complaint by the judge.

The judge wrote in response to the FTC lawsuit that while the court does not approve all of Facebook's arguments, but agrees that the agency's complaint is legally unsatisfactory and must be dismissed.

A Facebook representative reportedly stated they are pleased the decisions recognized the flaws in the government allegations made against the company.

Last year, the FTC and a large coalition of states filed separate cases accusing Facebook of breaking antitrust rules by buying rivals like WhatsApp for USD 19 billion and Instagram for USD 1 billion.

Following bipartisan fury over Facebook and Alphabet Inc.'s Google's social media dominance in the economy and politics, the federal government and states also filed a total of five cases against them last year, which has been rendered ineffective against the tech giants’ rising power.

Further, the judge also criticized parts of the FTC’s case concerning its refusal to enable interoperability permissions with competitors.

Source Credit- https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-hits-1-trillion-value-after-judge-rejects-antitrust-complaints-394581