July 28 (UPI) -- Attorneys general from 48 states and territories on Wednesday filed to appeal a federal court's decision to dismiss their antitrust lawsuit against social giant Facebook.
The states originally brought the lawsuit, which accuses Facebook of illegal monopolization online, to U.S. District Court. The suit was a response to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp two years later.
District Judge James Boasberg dismissed the suit last month, saying that it came too many years after Facebook bought the apps.
Boasberg also dismissed a similar suit by the Federal Trade Commission, but allowed the agency to amend and refile its complaint -- something he did not allow the states to do.
The states' plan to appeal was filed in the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. They did not indicate in the filing whether they will make new antitrust arguments.
Facebook has previously argued that it doesn't have a monopoly over other social media applications like Snapchat and Twitter.
The FTC has until August 19 to file its amended suit.
Since the dismissal of the case, Facebook filed a petition for FTC Chair Lina Khan to be recused from antitrust matters. She has not yet responded to the petition.