SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook’s stock dropped almost three percent in regular trading after news reports suggested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may take antitrust action to prevent Facebook from integrating its disparate messaging apps.
The reports said the FTC may seek a court injunction that would block Facebook’s “interoperability” plans for Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, which involves revising them to use the same underlying software.
Both the FTC and Facebook declined to comment on the reports.
Facebook has been planning to integrate the applications since early 2019. Federal regulators are concerned that Facebook’s plan could make it hard to break up the company should the FTC find that necessary. (AP)
