https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201209/13320045855/open-season-ftc-48-attorneys-general-file-separate-antitrust-lawsuits-against-facebook.shtml

Everyone knew that this was coming eventually, but on Wednesday two separate antitrust lawsuits were filed against Facebook. First, the FTC filed a complaint, followed by 48 Attorneys General, representing 46 states, the District of Columbia and Guam (Guam!), similarly arguing that Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and Whatsapp were an antitrust violation. I will say, upfront, that both cases appear to have a lot more meat to them than the DOJ's astoundingly weak case against Google. And yet... I'm still somewhat surprised at some of the claims made in both lawsuits that seem somewhat disconnected from reality.

As a quick summary, though, I'd say that both lawsuits make somewhat weak claims regarding acquisitions (mainly, but not limited to) Instagram and WhatsApp. Both lawsuits, though, do make much stronger claims about Facebook abusing its API to try to limit competition (though, doing so without the context of privacy questions that may have driven Facebook to close off more access to its API). I think the API questions are the most interesting to explore, and the ones where Facebook may face the most trouble in court.