I don't think there's any exception in the antitrust laws like "but you can be anti-competitive if the other guy did it first." And anti-competitive behavior in a Chinese company can hardly justify anti-competitiveness against a Japanese company or a Korean company. They may all be in Asia but they are nonetheless different countries. Google is also not a Chinese company, as you are probably aware.

Also a note: you don't have to be a monopoly to be charged with anti-competitive behavior. Being a monopoly can raise the standard of behavior and increase the penalties, but anti-competitive behavior can be illegal on its own, aside from whether you have an actual monopoly. For more you can start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

I hold "our" companies to a higher standard. I hope judges do as well.

I think its referring to legality not standards. what law is FB breaking?

I can’t believe this needs saying, but neither Japan or South Korea is China.

> I doubt there's any legal case for FB abusing monopoly powers based on this email. If anything, this is just very competent business decision making.

Facebook does business in Japan and South Korea. I’m sure they have to follow the laws of both countries.

Is there some reason you think they would not do this to a US company?

> "...And I agree we should use ads to promote our own products, but I'd still block companies that compete with our core from gaining any advantage from us. I'd also keep blockingGoogle but otherwise wouldn't extend the block to anyone else."

> "These actions may look anti-competitive, but these companies are all foreign (China, South Korea, Japan)."

> Explicitly mentions Google.

> Google has a bigger ad network than Facebook so how is that a monopoly?

Do you find this statement anti-competitive: "I'd still block companies that compete with our core"?