The Federal Trade Commission today filed a complaint against Facebook Inc. with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that accuses the company of breaking antitrust law.

The complaint is an amended version of a lawsuit that the FTC originally brought last December. According to a statement issued by the agency at the time, it was looking to secure an injunction against Facebook that could, among other things, order the company to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp.

The FTC’s original suit consisted of two main elements. First, the agency charged that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp amounts to anticompetitive behavior. Second, the suit alleged that Facebook had imposed unfair restrictions on developers building applications designed to integrate with its social network.

Importantly, the FTC also made the argument that “Facebook is the world’s dominant personal social networking service and has monopoly power in a market for personal social networking services.” In January, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the FTC’s suit after finding that the agency didn’t sufficiently back up its argument about Facebook’s monopoly power. 

“The FTC’s complaint says almost nothing concrete on the key question of how much power Facebook actually had, and still has, in a properly defined antitrust product market,” the court stated. “It is almost as if the agency expects the court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist.”

The FTC said that the newly filed amended version of its complaint provides “detailed statistics showing that Facebook had dominant market shares in the U.S. personal social networking market.” 

Between the dismissal of the original suit in January and the submission of the amended version today, Facebook filed a petition seeking the recusal of FTC Chair Lina Khan from the case. In the announcement of the amended complaint, the agency said that the petition has been dismissed after a review by its Office of General Counsel.

The FTC this morning also presented a new overview of its arguments that Facebook broke antitrust law. The agency said in the announcement of the amended complaint that during the 2010s, Facebook “lacked the business talent and engineering acumen” to adapt its technology to the smartphone era. The company, the FTC’s statement continues, responded to the situation by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp in what the agency describes as an anticompetitive shopping spree.

The antitrust complaint also accuses Facebook of imposing unfair limits on developers who were looking to build apps that integrate with its social network. In particular, the complaint focuses on Facebook Platform, a suite of tools and resources that the company provides to help developers build applications.

“After starting Facebook Platform as an open space for third party software developers, Facebook abruptly reversed course and required developers to agree to conditions that prevented successful apps from emerging as competitive threats to Facebook,” the FTC stated. “By pulling this bait and switch on developers, Facebook insulated itself from competition during a critical period of technological change.”

Facebook has until has until Oct. 4 to respond to the FTC’s amended complaint.

Photo: Eston Bond/Flickr