The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the antitrust authority in the United States, on Thursday renewed its demand to dismantle Facebook by filing an amended lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the tech giant monopolizes social media and hinders competition .
The new complaint comes nearly two months after a federal judge dismissed the original complaint, ruling that the FTC had not provided enough evidence that Facebook had a monopoly on social media to justify the lawsuit.
In the new complaint, the FTC, which monitors anti-competitive business practices in particular, continues to claim that the tech giant broke the law by making acquisitions designed to stifle competition, especially from Instagram and WhatsApp, and by denying third-party applications access to the Facebook platform.
“We are reviewing the amended FTC complaint and will have more information to release soon,” Facebook said in a tweet Thursday. The deadline for a company response to the amended complaint is October 4.
The lawsuit seeks to force Facebook to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, in what would be the first dismantling of a company for antitrust reasons since AT&T in the early 1980s.
The company had attempted to block FTC President Lina Khan from having a word in the matter, citing past statements and work on anti-competitive issues in tech. In a statement released Thursday, the FTC said the agency had determined it did not have a conflict of interest that would require Khan’s recusal.
