Facebook Policies Issue Of Consumer Watchdog Group Antitrust Complaint

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And here you thought it was just Microsoft that had to deal with antitrust suits! But no, Facebook has moved into that somewhat sterling company by finding itself the target of a filed antitrust complaint with the FCC via a group known as Consumer Watchdog, who calls the virtual currency “anticompetitive”, but doesn’t stop there by a long shot.

What Consumer Watchdog is saying, and they do have something of a point here, is that, since Facebook denominates its purchases in Facebook Credits (starting this Friday, anyway), and in turn forbids game developers from charging less for their game on other social networks, they’re making it near impossible for developers to offer up their product on a larger scale.  Basically–and I rush to remind that I’m not a lawyer–the problem is only partially with Facebook Credits, and more about Facebook’s policies about having developers offer games either only on Facebook or elsewhere only at higher prices. If you want to play in Facebook’s sandbox, by the look of it, you pretty much have to slit your own throat with higher prices elsewhere.

This isn’t the first time Consumer Watchdog has gone after a big name, having recently launched a series of offensives on Google (some reports say Consumer Watchdog was the recipient of a six-figure grant offered specifically to keep an eye on Google). And in an interesting twist, Consumer Watchdog’s expansion to take on Facebook may prove helpful to Google, since their recent rollout of a variety of new features designed to compete with the social networking site.

It will be interesting to see just where this particular case goes, though, and to see if some of Facebook’s policies will end up as government targets. Though Consumer Watchdog’s motives seem at least somewhat suspect, they may well have a point too clear to miss.

What do you guys think about this? Is Facebook putting a little too much difficulty into game developer agreements, or are they simply trying to protect themselves against competitors? You’re more than welcome to put out your own opinion down in the comments section, and we look forward to hearing it.