Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was so distracted looking for arguments to steal the election for Trump that he missed the train of 48 Attorney Generals looking to protect Americans from the monopolistic predations of Facebook:
A huge collection of states filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday accusing Facebook of suppressing its competition through monopolistic business practices. Forty-eight attorneys general across 46 states, the territory of Guam and the District of Columbia are behind the lawsuit, with only South Dakota, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia declining to join.
The lawsuit, which looks at Facebook’s actions throughout the company’s history, alleges that the company bought competitors “illegally” and in a “predatory manner” in order to grow and preserve its market power. The suit cites Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp as prominent examples.
The collection of states asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to “restrain Facebook from making further acquisitions valued at or in excess of $10 million” without notifying the plaintiff states in advance. The lawsuit also asks the court for “any additional relief it determines is appropriate, including the divestiture or restructuring of illegally acquired companies, or current Facebook assets or business lines.”
…The suit was led by a committee of attorneys general from California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia, with New York Attorney General Letitia James spearheading the effort.
“Almost every state in this nation has joined this bipartisan lawsuit because Facebook’s efforts to dominate the market were as illegal as they were harmful,” James said. “Today’s suit should send a clear message to Facebook and every other company that any efforts to stifle competition, reduce innovation, or cut privacy protections will be met with the full force of our offices” [Taylor Hatmaker, “Facebook Hit with Massive Antitrust Lawsuit from 46 States,” TechCrunch, 2020.12.09].
I took my own antitrust action two years ago and deleted my Facebook account to end Facebook’s effort to monopolize my attention. But evidently Jason Ravnsborg just can’t take his eyes off the killer app long enough to fight for capitalism and privacy versus monopoly oppression.
I was under the impression this country has always played with corrupt capitalism. Not a facebook user, but thinking they must have pissed off the wrong people.
Big Data/Big Tech are #winning the 4th Industrial Revolution. Covid just made it an easier way forward.
FaceBook conspiracies .. before you know it, you’ll be lamenting the deep state’s use of social media to brainwash a legion of black clad Biden-Jungend.