Business

Facebook sued by defunct photo app Phhhoto on antitrust grounds

Meta (formerly Facebook) has been sued by a photo app called Phhhoto for allegedly copying its features for Instagram

November 6, 2021

Phhhoto claims Facebook copied it for Instagram’s Boomerang feature

Defunct photo app Phhhoto is suing Meta, formerly Facebook, on antitrust grounds, claiming the social media platform copied its features and hid its name from search results, effectively driving it out of business.

Phhhoto’s technology allowed users to capture five frames “in a single point-and-shoot burst,” which could be looped into a short video. This could be shared either on its platform or on Instagram.

According to Phhhoto, Facebook copied this main feature and released it on its Instagram platform as “Boomerang“. Phhhoto claims that Facebook copied Phhhoto’s main feature and released it on its Instagram platform as Boomerang in 2015, after blocking Phhhoto from Instagram’s API and from being pre-populated in Instagram posts.

Reportedly, the company also blocked Phhhoto from Instagram’s API and from being pre-populated in Instagram posts.

On Thursday, Phhhoto filed a complaint in US District Court. It said in the complaint, “The actions of Facebook and Instagram destroyed Phhhoto as a viable business and ruined the company’s prospects for investment.”

The complaint further says, “Phhhoto failed as a direct result of Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct. But for Facebook’s conduct, Phhhoto was positioned to grow into a social networking giant, similar in size, scope, and shareholder value to other social networking and media companies with which Facebook did not interfere.”

“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, and several other Facebook employees downloaded the app in August 2014 and examined its features,” the now-defunct photo app claimed in its lawsuit.

A Meta spokesperson said that “this suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously”.

[With Inputs from IANS]

PGurus is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with all the latest news and views

For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.