Facebook leaders say antitrust focus obscures the real tech threat: China

As Facebook prepares for increased competition scrutiny in the US and Europe, its top brass is repeatedly warning lawmakers and regulators that antitrust action could be a distraction from a much bigger threat: China. Facebook global affairs chief Nick Clegg is the latest high-profile executive to make this case. He called on American and European regulators to “turn off the white noise” and pay attention to the fact that countries like China are writing the “new rules of the internet themselves.” “The Great Firewall of China means great swaths of what we think of as the internet — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp included — are unreachable by its citizens and much of the content they can access is heavily censored,” Clegg said. These remarks could provide a preview of how Facebook may try to defend itself in Washington as House lawmakers open a wide-ranging probe into competition in the technology sector, and federal regulatory agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department signal increased scrutiny could be coming to Silicon Valley as they divvy up oversight of top companies.