U.S. Justice Department to launch an antitrust investigation of Facebook

The Justice Department intends to investigate Facebook after prodding from U.S. Attorney General William Barr, according to a person familiar with the matter, even though the Federal Trade Commission already has an inquiry underway, Report informs citing Gazeta.ru.

It will mark the fourth recent investigation of the social media company, which also faces probes by the Federal Trade Commission, a group of state attorneys general led by New York and the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. The FTC and Facebook declined to comment on this information.

It is specified that in case of violations, the Justice Ministry will take steps to obtain compensation from the company. Earlier, the US Department of Justice said it was launching an antitrust investigation against leading online platforms. The agency is interested in how leading online platforms were able to achieve market dominance and whether they participate in activities aimed at suppressing innovation, reducing competition and causing other harm to consumers.

"The purpose of the investigation is to assess competitive conditions in the online market and provide Americans with access to free markets," - the statement said.