US Federal Trade Commission and nearly every US state filed lawsuits, accusing Facebook of anti-competitive conduct by abusing its market power to create a monopoly and crushing smaller competitors.Consequently, Facebook's shares dropped significantly at the stock exchanges.
Facebook Inc could be forced to sell its prized assets WhatsApp and Instagram. New York attorney general Letitia James alleged that Facebook has engaged in a systematic strategy to eliminate threats to its monopoly. This includesacquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014.