Facebook Sued by Advertisers Over Social Media Monopoly Claims

Facebook Inc. was hit with new monopolization allegations in California federal court, as a group of advertisers joined the Federal Trade Commission, nearly every state, and individual social media users in claiming the tech giant has exploited its data troves to identify and gobble up startups that threaten its dominance.

“Facebook intentionally and unlawfully monopolized the social advertising market; charged supracompetitive prices to plaintiffs and other Facebook advertisers; lied about it to plaintiffs, developers, regulators, the press, and the public; and reaped billions of dollars in inflated social advertising revenues,” the new complaint says.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 18 in ...