Meta To Face Antitrust Trial Over Alleged Anti-competition Acquisitions

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, will face trial in a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit seeking its break-up over claims that it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to stifle competition in the social media market. A federal judge in Washington, DC, ruled on Wednesday, largely rejecting Meta’s motion to dismiss the case initially filed in 2020.

The FTC’s lawsuit, first brought during the Trump administration and later refined under President Biden, accuses Meta of using its acquisitions to maintain monopoly power by eliminating potential competition. The FTC claims that Meta (then Facebook) overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, aiming to quash emerging threats rather than competing with them in the mobile ecosystem. Judge James Boasberg allowed these claims to proceed to trial but dismissed a related FTC accusation that Meta limited third-party app developers' access to Facebook’s platform to prevent them from competing with its core services.

In response to the ruling, Meta expressed confidence in its defense, with a spokesperson stating that the evidence at trial will demonstrate that the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions benefitted consumers and competition. Meanwhile, FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar described the case as a bipartisan effort to curtail Meta’s monopoly power, stating it would restore competition to the social media landscape.

Meta will face limitations in its defense: the judge ruled that it cannot argue the WhatsApp acquisition improved competition against companies like Apple and Google. Judge Boasberg plans to release a detailed order on the case after Meta and the FTC have redacted any commercially sensitive information. The trial date is yet to be set.

This case is among several high-profile antitrust actions led by the FTC and the Department of Justice against Big Tech companies. Amazon and Apple are also under scrutiny, while Google faces two major antitrust lawsuits, including one where a judge recently determined it had unlawfully suppressed competition among search engines. Meta had argued for dismissal of the case, asserting that it overlooked competition from platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. (Inputs from Reuters)