Facebook has asked a federal court to dismiss antitrust cases filed by the US Trade Commission, which has called for the company to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

The social media giant said that the commission had failed to show that the company had a monopoly or harmed consumers, according to a Reuters report.

“By a one-vote margin, in the fraught environment of relentless criticism of Facebook for matters entirely unrelated to antitrust concerns, the agency decided to bring a case against Facebook,” said the online platform. “None of the harms typically alleged in antitrust actions is alleged here.”

The American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Facebook in December last year, alleging that the company is illegally maintaining a social networking monopoly through a “years-long course of anticompetitive conduct.”

The action followed a lengthy investigation by the FTC in cooperation with a coalition of attorneys and alleges that Facebook has engaged in a systematic strategy, including its 2012 acquisition of Instagram, its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp, and the imposition of anticompetitive conditions on software developers to eliminate threats to its monopoly.

The commission said that this ‘strategy’ harms competition, leaves consumers with few choices for personal social networking, and deprives advertisers of the benefits of competition.

The FTC is seeking a permanent injunction in federal court that could, among other things: require divestitures of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp; prohibit Facebook from imposing anticompetitive conditions on software developers; and require Facebook to seek prior notice and approval for future mergers and acquisitions.

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