ATLANTA — Georgia is one of four states not apparently joining an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook that was announced on Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of 46 states.
According to a copy of the complaint hosted on the website of the New York attorney general, Georgia along with South Dakota, South Carolina and Alabama appear not to have joined the lawsuit.
11Alive has reached out to the office of Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr for comment on the decision.
The FTC complaint alleges that Facebook has built a monopoly, and "maintained its monopoly position by buying up companies that present competitive threats and by imposing restrictive policies that unjustifiably hinder actual or potential rivals that Facebook does not or cannot acquire."
It asks, among other things, for the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia to effectively break up Facebook, through "divestiture of assets, divestiture or reconstruction of businesses (including, but not limited to, Instagram and/or WhatsApp), and such other relief sufficient to restore the competition that would exist absent the conduct alleged in the Complaint, including, to the extent reasonably necessary, the provision of ongoing support or services from Facebook to one or more viable and independent business(es)."
“Personal social networking is central to the lives of millions of Americans,” Ian Conner, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement. “Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition. Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”