US EditionMeta prevails in historic FTC antitrust case, won’t have to break off WhatsApp, Instagram
Judge Boasberg found Meta faces strong competition from TikTok and YouTube, blocking FTC's attempt to force divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp after a five-year case.
- On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the FTC failed to prove Meta holds a monopoly, allowing Meta to keep Instagram and WhatsApp.
- The Federal Trade Commission sued Meta in 2020 alleging it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to eliminate rivals under a 'buy or bury' strategy and sought divestiture to restore competition.
- Testimony during the seven-week trial showed executives and old emails, as Boasberg wrote that people treat TikTok and YouTube as substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, adding the FTC offered no empirical evidence of substitution.
- The ruling spares Meta a breakup and preserves key revenue sources tied to Instagram and WhatsApp, while the FTC can appeal and Meta celebrated, saying the decision recognizes fierce competition.
- The ruling highlights challenges in unwinding historical mergers as regulators face rapidly evolving platforms; James Boasberg noted the online social media landscape has changed since the FTC filed in 2020.
258 Articles
258 Articles
Meta beats federal monopoly accusation
SAN FRANCISCO — Meta prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp, after a judge ruled the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.
Meta has received a significant relief in a lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission. The court rejected the FTC's arguments, handing Meta a major legal victory.
The US government has failed to enforce the separation of Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook's Meta.
Technology Is Fast and the Courts Are Slow
For years, Meta has been locked in a fierce rivalry with TikTok. Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, has cloned some of the features popularized by TikTok, which won over young people with an endless feed of short vertical videos. Now TikTok has helped save Meta from a damaging defeat in federal court. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that Meta had not illegally stifled competition by buying Instagram and WhatsApp when they wer…
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