Attorney General Lynn Fitch's fight against Facebook went down in flames yesterday. The Wall Street Journal reported:
A federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook Inc. filed by the U.S. government and most states, a major win for the company before the cases even got off the ground.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington on Monday granted the social-media giant’s requests to dismiss lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general in December. The dismissals, which came in a pair of rulings, came before any pretrial proceedings had progressed.
Judge Boasberg said the FTC’s lawsuit was “legally insufficient” because it didn’t plead enough allegations to support monopolization claims against Facebook. The judge, however, said the commission can try again and gave it 30 days to attempt to file an amended lawsuit. Rest of article.
General Fitch announced her participation in the lawsuit on December 9, 2020:
Attorney General Fitch today joined a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Facebook, Inc., alleging that the company has and continues to illegally stifle competition to protect its monopoly power.
“Facebook spent nearly a decade engaging in practices that diminish competition and exploit user privacy for profit,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “I joined this suit to put an end to Facebook’s monopolistic stronghold on the marketplace and protect Mississippians from anticompetitive and deceptive business practices.”
The lawsuit alleges that over the last decade the social networking giant illegally acquired competitors, such as Instagram or WhatsApp, in a predatory manner and cut services to smaller competitors. These actions deprived users of the benefits of competition and reduced privacy protections and services, while boosting Facebook’s bottom line through increased advertising revenue. Facebook is specifically charged with violating Section 2 of the federal Sherman Act, in addition to multiple violations of Section 7 of the federal Clayton Act.
Since 2004, Facebook has operated as a personal social networking service that facilitates sharing content online without charging users a monetary fee. Instead, it provides these services in exchange for a user’s personal data and then monetizes its business by selling advertising to firms that attach immense value to the user engagement and highly targeted advertising that Facebook can deliver due to the vast trove of data it collects on users, their friends, and their interests. Facebook’s monopoly gives it broad discretion to set the terms for how its users’ private information is collected and used. For instance, when Facebook cuts off integration to third-party developers, users cannot easily move their own information. Because Facebook has successfully maintained a monopoly on the marketplace, the company is now able to make decisions about how to curate content on the platform and use the personal information it collects from users to further its own business interests, even if those choices conflict with the interests and preferences of Facebook users. Additionally, many of the privacy protections and user controls over their own data are now gone. The attorneys general ask the court to halt Facebook’s illegal, anticompetitive conduct and block the company from continuing this behavior in the future.
Additionally, the states ask the court to restrain Facebook from making further acquisitions valued at or in excess of $10 million without advance notice to the plaintiff states. Finally, they ask the court to provide any additional relief it deems appropriate, including the divestiture or restructuring of illegally acquired companies, or current Facebook assets or business lines. Separately, but in coordination with this multistate coalition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also today filed a complaint against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit was spearheaded by the attorneys general for California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. This executive committee and Mississippi are joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the territory of Guam.
36 comments:
Suckerbergj Zucks!!
Great picture of that evil little twit sitting on a 4" cushion while testifying in congress.
U.S. District Left leaning Judge James Boasberg in Washington State.
Liberal Democratic Federal Judge
Hope the Congress throws the antitrust book at Suckerburg!
Fitch filed a joinder in a lawsuit drafted by some people who can’t get past a 12 b 6 motion…..
Less than 1% of complaints are dismissed at this stage…..
Talk about bad lawyering……
What a complete dumbass
For the millionth time, please put Lynn in front of a camera to explain the details of this case. If you can find her
When you take credit for smarter AG’s success, you gotta take the licks when the lawsuit you joined without lifting a finger goes down in flames
The Attorney Joiner strikes again
Another waste of time by our embarrassment of an AG. She seems to pick her cases based only on the optics even when there is zero chance of having any impact on law. She is a waste of our limited resources. Do better Lynn.
Maybe Lynn will take up the other huge RepubliQan issue, saving Dr. Seuss.
Or maybe figuring out a way to convince Mississippians to get vaccinated?
Ha. Just kidding. The RepubliQans hate vaccines!
Has her China lawsuit got us paid yet? Still waiting on more stimmies but from CHYNAH this time!
Boy howdy!
Looks like Lynn’s fan base is awol.
And the China suit is dumb….but even more ignorant was her joining Texas in its effort to block the last election!
What sort of law and order person tries to over throw democracy?
When the shit she keeps dragging around starts to smell really bad….she is gonna get dumped harder than Pence at a Trump rakky.
During the admittedly misguided google lawsuit, google was forbidden at the AGO. Reasoning was if you sue a company, you should not be using it while you do do. AG employees had to make due with Bing.
Is Lynn aware of her lawsuit? Her Facebook page is pretty active. It doesn’t have Shad’s level of followers, but it’s still used to announce all her “news”
Shad 2024
All you basement cheeto eating critics should keep in mind the old saying: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
This lawsuit was probably all contingency, so this loss probably didn't cost the taxpayers a single dollar.
Put that in yer pipes and smoke it!
@6:55 it did cost us! Lynn standing in a room sucking up air doing nothing cost us!
Jealousy is a cruel master. Ms Fitch took a swing and missed, but if she had made the connection, the Zuckerberg money would have come in handy. Even better would have been the tears of the arrogant little twit.
We don't hate vaccines as much as we hate the people that push them.
@6:55 Yes it cost the MS citizens. Opportunity cost: While she's wasting time pandering, she's not doing her real job.
Also, and more importantly, it makes MS residents look like fools. We are losing ground by every measure. She's pouring gasoline on the flames that are consuming us.
You bunch of women haters totally ignore that she was part of a suit with 47 other state AGs. That's an incredible level of support from Ds and Rs.
@9:24 saying their are women haters on here is like calling you a racist! Do it fit?
While Puerto Rican statehood or independence might be a point of debate for some, I think Mississippians need to get behind a movement to create a whole different 51st state - Dumbfuckinsasvania. It's probably our only hope to not be last in every good thing and first in every bad thing that matters to anyone of any color, gender, or sexual preference with a lick of common-damned-sense. For example, we are 51st in the list of "states" for vaccinations, thanks to DC being counted separately, but we're in line for first in Delta mutation infections. But thankfully, our AG is an idio...oh, wait...
In any case, I'm sure the Waddling Penguins of good ol' Dumfuckinsasvania State will be able to whip the snot out of the Reb...er, Bears...er, Land Sharks of Ole Miss in the NCAA suspension sweepstakes!
No doubt there are lawsuits that should be joined or filed against wrongdoers…. But we have white-collar criminal public officials that are not being investigated. It.is. Not. Happening. If she can’t sell it to a voter she ain’t interested. MS GOP PLEASE run someone against her!!!
While she's wasting time pandering, she's not doing her real job.
Objection!
Assumes facts not in evidence. To wit: What evidence is there that she can do her real job?
I don’t hate women. I love women. I even married one. Incompetence, that I hate.
Never had a chance and the judge saw if was only a political ploy.
I'm going to post this result on her Facebook page, and then tweet her.
"I don’t hate women. I love women. *** I even married one. Incompetence, that I hate.***"
I'd make a smart-assed remark about self-loathing, but that might be seen as hateful.
If some folks could quit worrying about how they looked to the rest of the world, they maybe, could, enjoy life. If some people could get their long, pointed nose out of other people's business, they may find peace of mind. I want to be inclusive, so if some folks could tame their wagging tongue, by the way, a wagging tongue is seldom hooked to horse sense, they may find rest for their weary soul.
Worried about how we look? You realize the AG’s COMMS director spends most of her day mastering photoshop. Dewrinkling is quite a task
Not a surprise...
How funny y'all are all for business and capitalism until one of the businesses doesn't share your partisan beliefs.
Facebook is a BUSINESS and so are other sites. GET OVER IT!
Hehe 9:17 am. So true. I wonder how much money Lynn spent on the ring light she bought to go along with the photoshopping.
But is anyone surprised by the incompetence comments? All the good people and attorneys left/are leaving her office in masses.
She’s an attorney, not a general. General modifies attorney, not the other way around.
The proper salutation is Madam Attorney General, in this case.
First this and then she lost her rehearing motion at the Court of Appeals in the overturned conviction of Courtney Rainey. God help us to find her replacement!
@10:47 Sustained! Touché
Must we be reminded daily of this woman's incompetence? In her last three or four state jobs, she could basically 'hide out' in literal obscurity. Now, though, she walks out on stage, tripping, almost daily.
Can we just give Audit prosecutorial powers or just roll the two jobs into one so Shad White can just take over her do nothing office?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sunherald.com/news/politics-government/article252539918.html
🤔
Interesting reading all these comments of purported republicans who are supportive of big business and what they express towards a major corporation who produces hundreds of billions of dollars of economic impact a year and provides millions of jobs to people.
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