The
Federal Trade Commission met privately on Thursday to discuss a
probe while state attorneys general under the leadership of New
York's Letitia James have been scrutinizing the company for
potential threats to competition, the newspaper reported.
The timeline could still change, the newspaper said, adding that
state attorneys general are in the late stages of preparing
their complaint.
Facebook, the FTC and the office of the New York Attorney
General were not immediately available for comment late on
Friday.
Facebook said in August that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg was
interviewed at an FTC investigative hearing as part of the
government's antitrust probe into the company.
Facebook faced similar probes by the Justice Department and by
state attorneys general, and has said previously the
investigations were looking at prior acquisitions and business
practices involving "social networking or social media services,
digital advertising, and/or mobile or online applications."
In July 2019, Facebook agreed to pay a record-breaking $5
billion fine to resolve a separate FTC probe into the company's
privacy practices.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; editing by Grant McCool and
Cynthia Osterman)
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