(CNN) The groundbreaking lawsuits filed against Facebook on Wednesday by state and federal officials represent the gravest regulatory threat the social media giant has ever faced. Don't bet on a breakupEven if a court agrees that Facebook violated antitrust law, that doesn't necessarily mean that a breakup is inevitable. "It sort of defeats the purpose," Manne said, "and it doesn't do what most critics would like, because it virtually ensures that every social media company looks like every other." In order to be relevant, social media platforms need to have scale; to achieve scale, they need more users than any other platform. Historically, antitrust law has not been used to go after privacy misconduct.

Source: CNN December 10, 2020 21:22 UTC