Meta Platforms Inc. has won a key lawsuit after a federal judge ruled that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp do not violate US antitrust law. This decision is a significant defeat for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This is reported by Bloomberg, writes UNN.
Details
US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington on Tuesday, November 18, stated that the FTC failed to prove that these deals allowed the tech giant to illegally monopolize the social media market.
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The judge noted that due to constantly changing trends and features in applications, the FTC was unable to clearly define the boundaries of Meta's product market.
Regardless of whether Meta had monopoly power in the past, the agency must prove that it continues to have such power now. Today's court decision determines that the FTC did not do so.
The decision was a huge loss for the federal government, which sued Meta (then Facebook) for antitrust violations back in 2020.
Amid the news, Meta shares partially recovered their daily losses. At 12:46 PM New York time, the shares fell by only 1.1%, trading at $595.22. Meta has not yet provided official comments.
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