Meta has successfully averted what was once his company’s biggest existential threat. A federal judge sided with the social media company in a landmark antitrust case, ruling Tuesday that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has not proven that Meta is a monopoly.
The FTC filed antitrust charges against Meta, then known as Facebook, in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. The government had argued that by acquiring its one-time rivals, Instagram and WhatsApp, the company had harmed American consumers by stifling competition in the social media industry. Meta had argued that those services were able to grow to 1 billion-user apps because of its investments and cited TikTok’s rise as evidence that it faces tough competition.
On Tuesday, US District Judge James Boasberg ruled in favor of Meta. “Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, the agency must show that it still has such power,” he wrote. “The court’s decision today determines that the FTC did not do so.”
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