The FTC is investigating Facebook. Again

Enlarge / The company is not having its best-ever week. (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )

Facebook's legion of lawyers is certainly earning its keep this year: the company disclosed to investors Tuesday that it is under antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

This is a completely different investigation than the $5 billion settlement, also made public yesterday, that Facebook and the FTC reached over Facebook's privacy practices. Nor is it the same antitrust probe of big tech the Justice Department launched earlier this week.

Why antitrust?

Antitrust investigations focus on behavior regulators deem anticompetitive. The best-known kind of example is when two companies that compete directly against each other want to merge, drastically reducing or eliminating competition in their market. If there are only two companies in the entire US that make a certain kind of nail, for example, the FTC or DOJ would likely sue to block an acquisition between them from happening, because it would pose harm to competition and likely raise prices for nail-buyers everywhere, also affecting suppliers that need nails to build things like houses.

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