Facebook reportedly offered to help its competitors create a rival social media network to avoid antitrust lawsuits that were recently filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of almost every state, The Washington Post reports.
The Post reports that Facebook offered its competitors access to its code via licensing agreements to help them create social media rivals to their network, and that the company’s lawyers mentioned this to several state and federal investigators just days before they filed lawsuits to separate Instagram and WhatsApp from the company.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Facebook and Google have made an agreement to “cooperate and assist each other in responding to any Antitrust Action,” and “promptly and fully inform the Other Party of any Governmental Communication Related to the Agreement.”
A spokesperson for Facebook told the Post in a statement: “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.”