Washington, Dec 10 (AP) Federal regulators have asked for Facebook to be ordered to divest its Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services as the US government and 48 states and districts accused the company of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors.

The antitrust lawsuits were announced on Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Also Read | Barack Obama Did Not Snub PM Narendra Modi on Twitter Over Farmers’ Protest; Fact-Check Debunks Fake News Spread Through Morphed Image.

“It's really critically important that we block this predatory acquisition of companies and that we restore confidence to the market,” James said during a press conference announcing the lawsuit. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)