Two antitrust cases against Facebook thrown out Decision a major blow to attempts to rein in Big Tech; Refile complaint, judge tells federal agency In a stunning setback to regulators’ efforts to break up Facebook, a federal judge on Monday threw out antitrust lawsuits brought against the company by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states. The judge eviscerated one of the federal government’s core arguments, that Facebook holds a monopoly over social networking, saying prosecutors had failed to provide enough facts to back up that claim. And he said the states had waited too long to bring their case, which centres on deals made in 2012 and 2014.