Action: A US District Court has dismissed the antitrust case against Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other platforms) in which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) argued that Meta maintains a monopoly in the personal social networking (PSN) market and engaged in anticompetitive behavior to protect its monopoly, including by acquiring Instagram (in 2012) and WhatsApp (in 2014).
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- As is typically the case in antitrust litigation, a core consideration in FTC v. Meta Platforms, Inc. was the definition of the market Meta was alleged to have monopolized. The FTC argued that Meta maintains monopoly power in a narrowly defined PSN market – which includes apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and MeWe – whereas Meta argued that it operates in a significantly larger social media ecosystem that includes TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and other platforms.
- In his opinion, US District Judge James Boasberg stated that Meta’s competitive landscape has changed significantly in the five years since the FTC’s suit began and that “it once might have made sense to partition apps into separate markets of social networking and social media, that wall has since broken down.”
- The FTC case is just one of several lawsuits Meta has faced related to alleged monopoly power. In a separate case, several Facebook users alleged that the company engaged in anticompetitive and deceptive data-sharing practices to achieve market dominance. A US District Court dismissed this case in September. In December 2020, 46 US States, the District of Columbia, and Guam filed a suit alleging that Meta illegally stifled competition to protect its monopoly power. That case was dismissed in 2023.
- Separately, in 2022, the FTC had sued to block Meta’s acquisition of Within Unlimited, which made a virtual reality (VR) fitness app, arguing that Meta already operated a VR headset and app ecosystem and that the acquisition would reduce competition in that market. However, in 2023, a District Court denied the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and the FTC decided not to pursue an administrative merger challenge.
- What this means for business: The Court’s decision in the FTC case represents a significant victory for Meta, which could have been directed to divest Instagram and WhatsApp had the FTC prevailed. The ruling also carries broader implications for technology firms, signaling that courts may be increasingly skeptical of narrow market definitions in fast-evolving digital ecosystems. As a result, the decision may temper future antitrust enforcement against large platforms
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