Facebook Inc. asked a federal judge to throw out a U.S. antitrust case against the social-media company, saying the government is attempting a “do-over” by trying to unwind acquisitions that won regulatory approval years ago.
Facebook made a filing Wednesday in federal court in Washington seeking to dismiss the complaint filed in December by the Federal Trade Commission. Facebook said the government’s lawsuit fails to explain why it wants to undo the company’s acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
“The FTC wants a do-over,” Facebook said. “It just ignores its own decisions, failing to offer any valid explanation for its about-face.”
Facebook’s filing is the first formal response to the FTC’s complaint and marks the start of a high-stakes battle over the future of the company. The FTC’s case and a parallel lawsuit filed by a group of states, if successful, would break up the company by splitting off Instagram and WhatsApp.
A Facebook win at this stage would let the social media giant avoid a trial and escape unscathed. The company said the government’s case is unprecedented. No court has ever held that the FTC can unwind a merger years after the agency investigated the transaction absent a showing that the past reviews were somehow compromised.