Report: Facebook Proposed Licensing Code To A Rival Social Network To Settle Antitrust Claims

Facebook has proposed easing antitrust concerns by letting a rival company license access to its code and its users’ network of relationships to foster the easier development of a competing social platform, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday (Dec. 22), citing unnamed sources.

Facebook made the offer to federal and state investigators who were preparing two antitrust suits against it, according to the news report. However, the Post said investigators ended up turning down the concept, which was among a collection of proposed solutions the company put forward earlier this year. The paper said regulators thought the idea didn’t completely address antitrust concerns.

Facebook didn’t provide the Post with company executives to discuss the matter, but company spokesperson Chris Sgro told the paper that “we will continue to vigorously defend the ability of people and businesses to choose our free services, advertising, and apps because of the value they bring.”

Facebook and Google are encountering a bevy of antitrust lawsuits in addition to probes by European and American regulators. For example, Facebook faces an antitrust suit backed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 46 states, while Google has been hit by an antitrust suit filed by a group of 38 state attorneys general.

On Tuesday, (Dec 22), The Wall Street Journal also published details of a pact the two firms purportedly struck to “cooperate and assist one another” if they encountered an investigation into an advertising deal the two arranged.

Earlier this month, Facebook Chief Operations Officer Sheryl Sandberg pushed back against two antitrust lawsuits recently filed against the social media giant. The suits could force Facebook to spin off WhatsApp — which it bought in 2014 — and Instagram, which the firm acquired in 2012.

“Those acquisitions were cleared and if you can buy a company, and eight years, 10 years later, the government can clear them and unwind it — that’s going to be a really big chilling problem for American business, we are not going to be competitive around the world,” Sandberg said in a published interview.