Facebook has used Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 to shield itself from lawsuits, same as other Big Tech companies; but it has been on the receiving end of a massive amount of criticism because of various practices, and suspicions that political actors use the platform to spread political misinformation.

In October 2021, a Facebook whistle-blower accused the company of various misdeeds, fueling widespread concerns about its power and influence over U.S. public discourse. As judge James Boasberg rejected federal antitrust complaints against Facebook in June 2021, he left the door open for refiling anti-trust complaints against the company – and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) duly refiled in August, looking to keep the case open.

The emergent theory at the FTC is that dominant tech companies could be bad even if they don't raise prices for consumers, because they may have excessive social, political and economic power, a view that has been openly defended by FTC chairman Lina Khan.

There is a clear threat that Facebook ends up forced to spin off one of its valuable properties, amid all the unrest around Section 230 and Big Tech power. The question is how elevated this threat is.