Facebook tells employees to preserve internal documents and communications amid growing antitrust scrutiny

Facebook Inc. has asked employees to preserve all internal communications and documents going back to 2014, following a spate of antitrust investigations into the technology giant.<br><br>The company has faced antitrust lawsuits from both the federal government and a collection of state attorneys general in recent months, as well as separate antitrust probes by regulators in Europe and the UK. Its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp are also subject to a lawsuit by a collection of state attorneys general.<br><br>In response, Facebook is taking steps to ensure that any relevant internal communications are saved for use in forthcoming trials, the Financial Times reported. Such instructions, known as a litigation hold, are standard in legal proceedings.<br><br>Facebook is understood to have told employees that they must preserve internal documents and communications going back to 2014.<br><br>That will also likely include chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s emails, texts and other communication, sources said.<br><br>A Facebook spokesperson said the company was acting “in accordance with its normal document preservation practices”.