It might seem strange that the U.S. Government should take legal action to break-up the monopoly of a company that only came into existence in 2004, but Facebook, totally dominates the social media landscape in America, and the fact that it has literally gone from nothing to the fourth biggest market capitalization of 376 billion dollars as of October 31,2016, indicates that with no competition in its way, Facebook owns the social media market and consequently grabs a significant chunk of the valuable internet advertising monies that is associated with having invaluable consumer information ready to be processed, analyzed, and mined.
The people that run Facebook are no fools, as they have consistently sought out new talent, new companies, new ways of engaging their social media audience, and new platforms, since their inception, recognizing that in order for Facebook to stay far ahead of the curve, they not only need to be masters of their social media universe, but masters of all the devices that consumers of their product utilize in order to access that social media world. All this they have done with the aplomb of professionals that are masters of their craft, so that previously innovative and independent companies such as WhatsApp and Instagram have been integrated into the Facebook platform.
While there isn't necessarily anything wrong with Facebook making all of the right moves to maintain their relevancy so as to grow their stock price, so as to impress its investors and Board of Directors, and so as to essentially keep their eyes on acquisitions of all types that will either fit in well with Facebook, or must be purchased with the intent to understand the thinking behind the product, and/or to acquire and to hire the geniuses behind such innovations, Facebook does what it needs to do to either acquire or to buy out any and everything that will be make it bigger and better or alternatively to preclude any competitor from nipping at some point at their heels.
The fact of the matter is that Facebook would not have its current market capitalization if it hadn't been permitted to buy up and acquire so many hi-technology companies over the last few years, so as to maintain its perch as the one source true social media networking site that covers all platforms and all media. The U.S. Government has an obligation to take monopolies, whether natural or not, and in the interests of competition and fairness, break them up into smaller parts, and/or create the dynamic that will allow true competition.
Facebook should be seen for what it really is, a behemoth, that this government does not apparently understand, as there is an absolute direct correlation between Facebook's market capitalization and the fact that no other company has the sheer amount of pertinent and actionable information on individuals in regards to their likes and dislikes, along with their specific social interactions, than Facebook has, which is an invaluable gold mine to advertisers of all sorts, and thereby Facebook can charge what they want to charge advertisers, because of this singular advantage.
Facebook is the face of social media and that's exactly why they make the moves that they make so as to keep bossing it their way.