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Government Antitrust Lawsuits Against Facebook Thrown Out by Federal Judge
The Facebook lawsuits were part of an effort by government antitrust enforcers to pursue tech giants.
Credit: Nina Riggio/Bloomberg News
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.
The judge dismissed the case brought by 46 states in its entirety on the grounds that the attorneys general waited too long to bring their claims.
From The Wall Street Journal
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