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| Facebook faces lawsuit over photo app Phhhoto |
For antitrust reasons, the photo app sued Phhhoto Meta, formerly known as Facebook, claiming that the social media platform claimed it was interested in working with him, but then copied his jobs and hid his name in search results, which prompted him to force him. to stop working.
Phhhoto's technology allows users to take five photos that can be turned into a short video and shared through its platform or Instagram.
According to Phhhoto, the company copied Phhhoto's key features and launched it as a Boomerang on the Instagram platform in 2015. The company had previously blocked Phhhoto in the Instagram API and previously in Instagram posts.
"The actions of Facebook and Instagram have destroyed Phhhoto's investment prospects as a viable business and business," Phhhoto said in the complaint. The immediate cause of Phhhoto's failure was Facebook's anti-competitive behaviour.
But without Facebook's actions, Phhhoto could have become a social media giant, comparable in size, reach, and shareholder value to other social and media companies that Facebook has failed to do.
Launched in 2014 and closed in 2017, Phhhoto claimed to have 3.7 million monthly active users at its peak.
Celebrities like Beyoncé, Joe Jonas, Chrissy Teigen, and Bella Hadid are all users of the app and have posted their content on their Instagram accounts.
In the complaint, Phhhoto alleges that Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Systrom, and several other company employees downloaded the app and checked its functionality in August 2014.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook's director of strategic partnerships, Brian Horen, contacted Vohuto in February 2015. He offered to integrate his technology with Messenger.
Facebook copied the Boomerang feature from Phhhoto
Phhhoto rejected the proposal. But Hurin then offered to include content from Phhhoto in the news feed of Facebook users.
Phhhoto said that after investing heavily in the project, Hurin cited internal legal negotiations that prevented the two companies from moving forward.
In March 2015, Instagram settings changed. The lawsuit alleges that Phhhoto users cannot find their friends through the platform.
Phhhoto alleged that Hurin told his team at the time that the growth in Phhhoto users had disrupted the company through its relationship with Instagram.
In conjunction with Phhhoto's preparations to launch an Android version of its app in October 2015. Instagram launched the Boomerang feature, which the lawsuit claims is a copy of Phhhoto.
In March 2016, Phhhoto found out that her Instagram content has been blocked. The company said its suspicions were confirmed in 2018 when the British Parliament released confidential documents as part of an investigation into Facebook's anti-competitive practices.
Based on Phhhotos process. This disclosure links Facebook's previous actions against Phhhoto and the account ban that was discovered in late 2017 as part of the exclusion plan.
Phhhoto is demanding a jury trial and unspecified monetary compensation. "This lawsuit is baseless and we actively defend ourselves," Meta spokesman Joe Osborne said in a statement.