Facebook Deceived Users About Data to Build Monopoly, Suit Says

Facebook Inc. was hit with a monopolization lawsuit in California federal court, claiming the tech giant “cheated its way” to “utter domination” of the social media market by lying about its data harvesting practices and “weaponizing” user information to “acquire, copy, or kill” potential rivals.

“Rather than competing on the merits, Facebook” identified “incipient competitors with the most likely path to meaningful market share gains,” the complaint says. Using “data it led consumers to believe it was not gathering,” the company then “targeted” those promising startups for “destruction,” according to the proposed class action.

The suit, filed late Thursday in ...