◼ POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek December 21, 202028
HANNAH MCKAY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES● TheU.S.government’scaseagainstFacebook
is bold;itscaseagainstGoogle,bythebookATaleofTwo
AntitrustBattles
TheU.S.FederalTradeCommissionjoltedthe
marketsonDec.9 withfilingsthatseektoforce
Facebook Inc. to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
The FTC is trying to achieve something that hasn’t
happened in four decades: the breakup of one of
America’s biggest companies. The last giant U.S.
company to be dismantled was AT&T in 1984.
What makes the case all the more surprising is
that it’s the FTC, often criticized for lax enforce-
ment, and not the U.S. Department of Justice push-
ing for the breakup. “The Facebook case is a really
big deal,” says Sam Weinstein, who teaches at the
Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. “If we
imagine the government winning and breaking up
Facebook, that’s a milestone.”
The federal government and states across the U.S.THEBOTTOMLINE ThegovernorsofNewYorkandNewJersey
haveexcelledatpubliccommunicationsaboutCovid-19,butthat
mightnotbeenoughtoquelldiscontentasa deadlywintersetsin.havesuedbothFacebookandAlphabetInc.’s Google
in recent weeks for abusing their dominant posi-
tionsinsocialmediaandinternetsearch,respec-
tively.Together,thecasesrepresenta watershed
momentinU.S.antitrustenforcementandanesca-
lationofregulatorypressureonthetechnologysec-
tor,whichalsoincludesa pushtoparebacka prized
liabilityshield,Section 230 oftheCommunications
DecencyAct.ButwhiletheGooglecasestayscom-
fortablywithinlegalprecedent,theFacebookcase
representsa startlingoffensive.
TheFTCis stakingoutnewterritoryinseeking
tounwindFacebook’spurchasesofInstagramand
WhatsApp—dealsthattheagencyapprovedin 2012
and2014.It’spursuinga uniquelineofattack.Rather
thantargetingtheInstagramandWhatsAppdeals
individuallyasillegalundertraditionalmergerlaw,
theagencyarguesthattheyarepartofa broader
strategybyFacebooktomonopolizesocialmedia.
TheDOJ’sGooglesuit,bycontrast,adherestothe
legalframeworkoftheU.S.monopolycaseagainst
MicrosoftCorp.from1998.Theagencyhasasked
onlyfor“structuralreliefasneeded,”thoughit can
stillpresenta morespecificrequesttothecourt.
TheGooglecomplaintfocusesonitsexclusive
dealstopackageitssearchenginesintophones
andbrowsers.Similarly,the 1998 Microsoftlaw-
suitchargedthatthesoftwaregiant’sagreements
withmanufacturerstoinstallitsInternetExplorer
browseronitsoperatingsystemviolatedantitrust
laws.“TheDOJcaseisliterallya cloneofU.S.v.
Microsoftandshouldbesomewhatofa slam-dunk,”
saysSallyHubbard,directorofenforcementstrat-
egyattheOpenMarketsInstitute,whichpushesfor
moreaggressiveantitrustlawsandenforcement.
ThegovernmentwontheMicrosoftcaseattrial,
andthejudgeordereda breakupofthecompany.
AfterMicrosoftappealed,thecourtsaidthecom-
panyhadactedillegallybutreversedthedecision
tobreakit up.Thecasewasultimatelysettled,with
Microsoftagreeingtoconditionsintendedtoencour-
age development of competing software products.
The FTC’s strategy may be more innovative, but
that very feature could handicap it in court. The
agency will need to persuade a judge that break-
ing up Facebook is the necessary remedy. The
Republican chairman of the FTC, Joe Simons, told
Bloomberg last year that prying apart consummated
deals can get “very messy.” That could be especially
true with Facebook, which has worked to integrate
Instagram and WhatsApp, using the same servers,
networks, and advertising for all three.
Facebook says it faces robust competition and
competes fairly and has argued that revisiting acqui-
sitions after so long could chill future deals.In mid-April, New York had more than
18,000 people hospitalized for Covid. That num-
berdroppedtofewerthan 500 inAugustbuthas
swelledagainto6,000andwilllikelycontinue
torise.
Cuomo “bent the curve and claimed enormous
success,” says Gerald Benjamin, a distinguished
professor of political science at the State University
of New York at New Paltz. He has to keep “suc-
ceeding in this crisis, or his achievement is dimin-
ished.” �Stacie Sherman and Elise Young, with
Keshia Clukey◀ Mark Zuckerberg
testifying remotely
before the Senate
Judiciary Committee
on Nov. 17