Around 40 U.S states headed by New York, plan to sign on a lawsuit against Facebook next week, due to possible antitrust violations, according to a source. At the moment, the group of U.S States have not disclosed what would be included on the complaint, but there are speculations that it would likely accuse the social media giant of anti-competitive practices such as buying its rivals often at a premium price. Presently, Facebook has declined to comment on this. If this pushes through, this will be the second biggest lawsuit filed against a big tech company this year, next to Google which the Justice Department sued in October.
Read: Justice Department’s Antitrust Case Against Google
Fox News: More than 40 states plan to sign on to the lawsuit, one source said, without naming them.
According to Fox News, four sources revealed on Wednesday, that a group of U.S. states led by New York is investigating Facebook Inc for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the social media giant next week.
The Federal Trade Commission, whose commissioners met on Wednesday, could file a related complaint with an administrative law judge or in district court.
It is not known what the states plan to include in their complaint. One allegation often made against Facebook is that it has strategically sought to buy small potential rivals, often at a big premium. These include Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
Facebook declined to comment at this time.
