Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Facebook’s looming antitrust fight could come as soon as next year, according to statements by FTC Chairman Joe Simons reported by the Financial Times. Simons told FT that he sees the 2020 elections as a looming deadline for the probe, and would seek to make any finding before November 2020 as a result.
“Any significant case that I’m trying to emphasize,” Simons said, “I would want to be out before the election.”
The chairman gave few hints as to what that eventual finding might be, but said the increasing entanglement of Facebook with sister products like Instagram and WhatsApp would make it difficult to execute a traditional antitrust breakup.
“If they’re maintaining separate business structures and infrastructure, it’s much easier…