Judge dismisses FTC and state antitrust complaints targeting social media giant Facebook

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed the Federal Trade Commission's complaint targeting the social media giant Facebook, though not the case itself. Additionally, a parallel case brought by state attorneys general has been totally dismissed.

"Although the Court does not agree with all of Facebook's contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agency's Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed," District Judge James Boasberg ruled. "The FTC has failed to plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 claims — namely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking (PSN) Services."

But while the court dismissed the FTC complaint, it did not dismiss the case. The filing notes that "the Court will dismiss only the Complaint, not the case, and will do so without prejudice to allow Plaintiff to file an amended Complaint."

In a separate opinion regarding the parallel case brought by the state attorneys general, Judge Boasberg said that the court totally dismissed the case: "Although the Court does not agree with all of Defendant's contentions here, it ultimately concurs with Facebook's bottomline conclusion: none of the States' claims may go forward," the judge noted.