The lawsuit - which includes 46 states, Guam and the District of Columbia - charges Facebook with anti-competitive conduct and using its market dominance to collect consumer data and profit from advertising revenue

Face's monopoly threatened:

The FTC ( Federeral Trade Comission) said that Facebook has engaged in a "systematic strategy" to eliminate competition, including buying upstart smaller rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014

Ms. Letitia James , New York Attorney General, claimed that Facebook had the practice of opening its website to third-party application developers and then abruptly shutting down developers it considered a threat.

"For years, Facebook has used its monopoly power as a social networking site to stifle competition and innovation and to sell alarming amounts of user data to make money, all at the expense of many people who use its platform," North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said in a press release.