Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Reports: FTC may try to block Facebook from integrating apps

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying before a House Financial Services Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said in an interim report it’s concerned that the U.S. tech giants Google and Facebook have become “entrenched“ players in the U.K.’s $17 billion digital advertising market, with “negative consequences“ for the people and businesses that use them. (Andrew Harnik / AP)
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook’s stock dropped almost 3% in regular trading after news reports suggested that the FTC may take antitrust action to prevent Facebook from integrating its disparate messaging apps.

The reports said the Federal Trade Commission may seek a court injunction that would block Facebook’s “interoperability” plans for Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, which involves revising them to use the same underlying software.

Both the FTC and Facebook declined to comment on the reports.

Facebook has been planning to integrate the apps since early 2019. Federal regulators are concerned that Facebook’s plan could make it hard to break up the company should the FTC find that necessary. The news was first published by The Wall Street Journal.