The FTC’s antitrust battle with Facebook is far from over.
James Martin/CNET

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday filed an amended antitrust complaint against Facebook, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully maintaining its dominance by acquiring or eliminating companies its sees as competitive threats.

The FTC’s new 80-page complaint alleges that Facebook illegally crushed its rivals through tactics such as buying up competitors. That has harmed consumers, the lawsuit alleges, because they have fewer choices in social networking, allowing Facebook to benefit from gathering personal data from users.

“Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile. After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat,” said Holly Vedova, FTC’s Bureau of Competition Acting Director, in a statement.

In June, US District Judge James Boasberg dismissed an earlier antitrust complaint filed by the FTC, saying the agency hadn’t provided enough evidence that Facebook has monopoly power in personal social networking. What constitutes a social network is “hardly crystal clear,” the judge said, and noted Facebook’s services are free to consumers.

The FTC said that the renewed complaint includes more data and evidence to support its claim that Facebook is a monopolist that abused its market power to harm its rivals.

The amended complaint comes amid growing concerns that Big Tech have grown so large that they constitute unregulated monopolies. In June, lawmakers unveiled a package of five bipartisan bills that target Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The bills would represent the most meaningful refashioning of antitrust laws in decades if passed into law.

Boasberg also dismissed a similar case against Facebook filed by 48 attorneys general. In a separate opinion, he said the states waited years to legally challenge Facebook’s acquisitions of photo service Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp. The acquisitions happened in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

The FTC had 30 days to file an amended complaint, a deadline that was extended to Aug. 19.

In July, Facebook also filed a petition to get FTC Chair Lina Khan recused from the agency’s lawsuits, arguing that Khan has already made up her mind about the company’s antitrust liability.

Facebook didn’t immediately have a comment on the amended complaint.