A group of at least 40 states led by New York is set to file an antitrust lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook as early as next week.

A recent report from CNBC states that sources believe that a lawsuit could be filed against social media giant Facebook as early as next week. A group of 40 states led by New York have been investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the company, according to four sources.

The complaint would be the second major lawsuit filed against a Big Tech company this year. The Justice Department sued Alphabet Inc’s Google in October.

More than 40 states plan to sign the lawsuit, a source told Reuters. The source did not name which states will be part of the effort.

Breitbart News reported earlier this week that authorities were preparing as many as four more cases targeting Google or Facebook by the end of January 2021. The lawsuits reportedly focus on whether the tech giant abused their power in the internet economy, focusing on Google’s position in the search and advertising industry and Facebook’s dominance in the social media market.

Facebook, one of four big tech companies investigated by the House Judiciary panel on antitrust, has faced allegations that the social media company strategically sought to buy smaller potential rivals including Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

As reported by The Hill:

The House report released in October unearthed emails that showed senior employees, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, describing acquiring Instagram in 2012 as a way to neutralize a competitive threat.

The report also uncovered an internal memo from October 2018 that claimed the company faced more competition within its own products, including Instagram and WhatsApp, than externally. 

Both Facebook and Google have denied using their power in an anti-competitive manner, saying that they operate in extremely competitive markets and that their services benefit consumers. Despite ongoing antitrust investigations and lawsuits, Facebook and Google are both on a spending spree to buy rivals and tech startups.

Meanwhile, President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning writing, “Looks like certain Republican Senators are getting cold feet with respect to the termination of Big Tech’s Section 230, a National Security and Election Integrity MUST. For years, all talk, no action. Termination must be put in Defense Bill!!!”

Big Tech is on watch! 

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