Standing behind a podium earlier this month, New York Attorney General Letitia James delivered a blunt message to Facebook.

“No company should have this much unchecked power over our personal information and our social interactions,” James said, as she announced a massive lawsuit that alleges the social media giant engaged in illegal anticompetitive behavior to maintain its dominance in social networking. Forty-seven other attorneys general, representing almost the entire country, took part in the Dec. 11 complaint.

The day only got worse for Facebook. The Federal Trade Commission, the country’s top antitrust regulator, filed a similar lawsuit against the company.

The lawsuits mark a major turning point in federal and state efforts to rein in Facebook’s expansive power. By snapping up rivals, such as photo service Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp, the company quashes competition, critics say. Even some Facebook insiders, such as co-founder Chris Hughes, want the social network to spin off WhatsApp and Instagram. The FTC and state lawsuits set the stage for such a breakup, though legal experts say that’s an unlikely outcome. The social network has argued a breakup won’t address important issues such as safeguarding user privacy.

Facebook isn’t the only social network lawmakers and regulators are targeting. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, along with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, heard criticism from lawmakers who are looking at changing a federal law that shields online platforms from liability for user content. The Trump administration threatened to ban Chinese-owned TikTok over national security concerns. 

“The problem is you have a handful of powerful companies that control the economy, control the public discourse and control all of our data,” said Gigi Sohn, a fellow at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a former senior adviser to the Federal Communications Commission.

More at CNET.