Facebook owner Meta Platforms to face lawsuit Federal Trade Commission lawsuit His break-up is being sought on the claim he bought Instagram and WhatsApp to crush emerging competition In social media, a judge in Washington issued the ruling on Wednesday.
Judge James Boasberg denies widespread Meta’s motion to end the case A lawsuit was filed against Facebook in 2020 during the Trump administration, alleging that the company acted illegally to maintain its social network monopoly.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, then known as Facebook, Overpaid for Instagram in 2012 And whatsapp in 2014 The FTC claims to aim to eliminate emerging threats in the mobile ecosystem rather than compete on its own.
Boasberg maintained that claim, but rejected the FTC’s allegation that Facebook increased its dominance by restricting third-party app developers’ access to the platform unless they competed with its core services. Did not agree.
“We are confident the evidence from the trial will show that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have been good for competition and consumers,” a Meta spokesperson said Wednesday.
FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said the case, filed during the Trump administration and refined under Biden, “represents a bipartisan effort to reduce META’s monopoly power and restore competition while ensuring freedom and innovation in the social media ecosystem.” Does.”
At trial, Meta will not be allowed to argue that its acquisition of WhatsApp promoted competition by strengthening its position against Apple and Google, Boasberg ruled.
The judge said he would issue a detailed order on Wednesday after the FTC and Meta have had a chance to redact any sensitive business information.
The date of hearing in the case has not been fixed.
Meta had urged the judge to dismiss the entire case, saying it relies on an overly narrow view of social media markets, and takes into account competition from ByteDance’s TikTok, Google’s YouTube, X and Microsoft’s LinkedIn. Has not been kept in.
The case is one of five blockbuster lawsuits where antitrust regulators at the FTC and the Justice Department are going after Big Tech.
Amazon And Apple Both are being sued, and Alphabet’s Google faces two lawsuits, one of which was recently thrown out by a judge. Illegally thwarted competition among online search engines,
