Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general from around the nation in continuing to fight to end Facebook’s illegal efforts to stifle competition and protect its monopoly power. The coalition filed an appeal brief arguing that the district court’s ruling dismissing the states’ case was in error. The coalition argues that the court was wrong to dismiss their case as time-barred and made additional legal and factual errors. Over the last decade, Facebook, now known as Meta, illegally acquired competitors in a predatory manner and cut or conditioned services to smaller threats.
“Facebook continues to profit from its monopoly all while steadily depriving users of the benefits of competition and reducing privacy protections and services,” Nessel said. “I join my colleagues in this fight to protect consumers and push back against Facebook’s illegal, anticompetitive conduct.”
In December 2020, the coalition filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct. The company filed a motion to dismiss, which was granted by the court last summer. The appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asks the court to allow the coalition of attorneys general to move forward with their suit.
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also filed an amended complaint against Facebook in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The court denied Facebook’s motion to dismiss the FTC’s complaint, allowing the FTC to proceed.
The appeal is being led by an executive committee comprised of the attorneys general of New York, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Nessel and the executive committee are joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, the territory of Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
