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1. LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1)'s status on Wednesday, 09-Dec-2020 20:00:49 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

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   Apparently, the FTC (and 48 state attorneys general) are suing #Facebook over its monopolistic practices, including buying up emerging competitors.
   
   https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/25/facebook-ftc-lawsuit-440645 [www politico com] CAUTION: #JavaScrippled
   
   https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/09/tech/facebook-antitrust-lawsuit-ftc-attorney-generals/index.html [www cnn com]
   
   https://news.yahoo.com/states-ftc-suing-facebook-alleged-193833264.html [news yahoo com]
   
   The biggest question on everyone's minds should be where is #USDOJ? They should have sued back when Facebook bought #WhatsApp and #Instagram ... or at the least, been actively involved in prosecuting this lawsuit. It really does seem like DOJ's beef with #Google is that the bribes ^W political contributions weren't large enough or didn't reach the right person.
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1)'s status on Wednesday, 09-Dec-2020 23:08:31 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

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     • GeniusMusing
     The good thing appears to be that the states and the FTC seem to have filed separate suits. If FTC.next() decides to fold, hopefully the states will stay the course and get some verifiable and enforceable restrictions on FB's conduct (and break off pieces acquired for monopolistic purposes such as WhatsApp and Instagram ... and maybe some homegrown pieces that arguably fall in other markets and have been subsidized by their main business).
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1)'s status on Wednesday, 09-Dec-2020 23:30:36 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

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     in reply to
     I repeat more clearly: #USDOJ's absence from this lawsuit (and their failure to file it when the offending purchases occurred) has "corruption" written all over it. #DOJ lawyers should be the courtroom face of this trial, not some private firm that FTC has to hire because the so-called Justice Department refused to do its job.
   • LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1)'s status on Thursday, 10-Dec-2020 00:58:44 UTC LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

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     in reply to
     https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/105353098520172190
     
     " And if FB fights this for a decade the way IBM fought its antitrust action, fine - IBM outspent the entire DoJ antitrust division every year for 12 years (Bork called it "antitrust's Vietnam"), but even though Big Blue wasn't broken up, they had their spirit broken.
     
     It was fear of another tangle with antitrust regulators that caused IBM to sit idly by while Phoenix cloned the PC ROMs and created the PC clone industry, which became the US computing industry.
     
     https://nu.federati.net/url/278827 "
     
     Part of a series of at least 20 posts.