US and 48 states and districts sue Facebook in major antitrust actions

[DGuller]

I think it's beyond doubt that Facebook intended to buy Instagram and WhatsApp. So intent has been established. Now was buying those something bad that should be punished? Yes if FB management thought they were buying up competition, no otherwise. I think sound law punishes actions, not thoughts behind actions. NB this is something I've seen in Swedish law and it has always struck me as unsound.

How about the action of not hiring someone you interviewed, versus the action of not hiring someone you interviewed because they were black (helpfully documented in an e-mail).  Would you find the different treatment of the two same actions by law to be justified in that case?

[The Brain]

I think it's beyond doubt that Facebook intended to buy Instagram and WhatsApp. So intent has been established. Now was buying those something bad that should be punished? Yes if FB management thought they were buying up competition, no otherwise. I think sound law punishes actions, not thoughts behind actions. NB this is something I've seen in Swedish law and it has always struck me as unsound.

How about the action of not hiring someone you interviewed, versus the action of not hiring someone you interviewed because they were black (helpfully documented in an e-mail).  Would you find the different treatment of the two same actions by law to be justified in that case?

That's a more interesting scenario. Nice. Do we know a credible reason why the non-racist employer didn't hire them?