– How are monopolies broken up and how would they ensure the companies act independently instead of working as one entity again?

Question

If the government broke up a company like Meta and split it into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, what’s stopping all three companies from working together as if nothing happened?

In: Other

Answer 1

The “mini-Bells” is a good example. They split up AT&T and afterwards the companies got sued for anticompetitive behavior (concerted action). Spawned a famous case on standing which today haunts most US law students: Twombly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Atlantic_Corp._v._Twombly?wprov=sfti1