A U.S. congressman and chairman of the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook for potentially violating antitrust laws. Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, described this moment as a 'massive credibility crisis' for the federal Commission and criticized officials for allowing the social media giant to acquire Whats App and Instagram. In a New York Times editorial, Cicilline said that the FTC has ignored privacy advocates for years as they've sought to alert the agency that Facebook was likely violating commitments it made under a 2011 consent order with the Commission. That order included privacy and data security requirements for Facebook, which Cicilline suggests have been ignored or violated by the company. The FTC has confirmed that it is investigating whether that agreement has been breached, though Cicilline said a full-scale antitrust investigation is also necessary. Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, is calling for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook for antitrust violations. Cicilline is shown in a file photo in January 2019 in Washington DC 'How the commission chooses to respond to Facebook's repeated abuses will determine whether it is willing or able to promote competition and protect consumers,' he wrote. 'If the commission does conclude that Facebook has violated the consent order, how it fixes this problem through a legal remedy will be a test of its effectiveness.' Facebook officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment by DailyMail.com. The company has been widely criticized since it was revealed a year ago that it allowed Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting company, to 'exploit the personal information of up to 87 million users, to obtain data that would help the company's clients "fight a culture war in America,"' Cicilline wrote. In the months since that revelation, new accounts of impropriety by Cambridge Analytica have been discovered. The company has paid teenagers to install software that will spy on their behavior, and asked users 'to screenshot their Amazon order history page,' according to TechCrunch. '(Facebook) has secretly collected highly sensitive data through the back doors of other apps, such as ovulation trackers, to target ads at users,' Cicilline wrote. And the company has used such tactics effectively – even when app users weren't Facebook members, according to The Wall Street Journal. Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC Facebook has also given user data to at least 60 different device makers – which is currently under criminal investigation, according to The New York Times. 'After each misdeed becomes public, Facebook alternates between denial, hollow promises and apology campaigns,' Cicillene wrote. 'But nothing changes.' Cicilline likened Facebook's tactics to those of Big Tobacco, when it comes to deflecting congressional oversight and smearing its critics . All of this amounts to a crisis that requires government intervention, Cicilline argued, noting that other agencies and governments have sought to rein Facebook's power and reach. The Washington D.C. attorney general filed a complaint in December, suing the company for failing to protect millions of users' data. In Germany, antitrust authorities found that Facebook 'abused its dominance' and took steps to limit the company's data collection practices. The British Parliament conducted an investigation that likened Facebook to 'digital gangsters' that believe they are 'ahead of and beyond the law.' The FTC has the authority fine Facebook for any misdeeds, though Cicillene noted that with $55 billion in revenue last year, 'even a fine in the low billions of dollars will amount to a slap on the wrist.' For that reason, the congressman called for strong sanctions against the company to ensure that Facebook is discouraged from any further violations. 'America's laws are not suggestions,' Cicillene wrote. 'When a company has repeatedly shown contempt for its legal commitments, the remedy must change how the company operates.' Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, is calling for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook for antitrust violations. File photo 'Enforcement agencies can do this through deep reforms of the company's structure,' he added. 'This includes removing members of the company's board, or even top executives, along with other changes to the company's business model to address dysfunction at the top.' Even that would not be enough of a reprimand for a company that has allegedly spied on its rivals and used its dominance to 'cripple' competitors by cutting them off from its network, Cicillene argued. For example, in 2013, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the company's decision to block Vine – a once fast-growing video creation rival that has since plummeted in popularity. Even more worrying, Cicillene says, is Facebook's recent announcement that the company would merge Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook into one product. 'Together, these reports suggest a disturbing pattern of anticompetitive conduct,' he wrote. 'Watchdogs and consumers alike report that the quality of Facebook's products has declined. It has killed innovation and eliminated competitive threats. And the price for advertising on the platform has continued to rise.' 'In other words, there is a smoking gun,' Cicillene added. All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility