US: Meta wins huge antitrust case, avoids break-up

A district judge in Washington ruled that Facebook’s parent company Meta does not hold a monopoly. Antitrust accusations had threatened the forced break-up of Instagram and
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US: Meta wins huge antitrust case, avoids break-up

A district judge in Washington ruled that Facebook’s parent company Meta does not hold a monopoly. Antitrust accusations had threatened the forced break-up of Instagram and WhatsApp.

The Meta logo displayed on a cellphone with an image of CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing AI glasses behind
Meta welcomed the verdict and said it looks forward to continued cooperation with the Trump administration

The US tech giant Meta — formerly Facebook — dodged a bullet on Tuesday when US District Judge James Boasberg ruled in its favor in a major antitrust case filed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2020 and ending in May.

The case posed an existential challenge to the company, charging that it had simply purchased Instagram and WhatsApp to stave off competition. An unfavorable ruling would have forced the company to divest from Instagram and WhatsApp.

“The landscape that existed only five years ago when the Federal Trade Commission brought this antitrust suit has changed markedly,” said Judge Boasberg. “While it once might have made sense to partition apps into separate markets of social networking and social media, that wall has since broken down.”

“Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now. The Court’s verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so,” said Boasberg.