Amid the conflict, Facebook shares fell $6.53 (about 3% to $195.73 per share)
As part of the antitrust investigation, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is set to put forward a Facebook injunction to prevent the company from integrating its Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp services, according to Business Insider. As FTC states, such integration of the Internet giant is a serious threat to fair competition in the market. The commission also plans to suspend the implementation of Facebook-developed rules for third-party companies to work with their services.
At the beginning of the year, platform owner Mark Zuckerberg announced the further unification of all three services. This will allow almost three billion users to send personal encrypted messages from one application to another, and for this it will not be necessary to have an account in all social networks.
Facebook and other major companies, including Google, Amazon and Apple, are increasingly accused of crowding out competitors in the market. EU antitrust authorities have already ordered Google to pay $3 billion in fines for blocking competitors in services compared to purchases and online advertising.
Members of the US Democratic Party also called for greater control over Google, Facebook and other companies. The current injunction may serve as this start, but the consent of the majority of the federal commission members is necessary for the transfer of the case to court.
