Judge rules Meta doesn't have monopoly after Instagram, WhatsApp acquisitions
The company hailed the decision in a statement provided to the BBC, saying it "recognizes that Meta faces fierce competition."
"The Court ultimately concludes that the agency has not carried its burden: Meta holds no monopoly in the relevant market," wrote Judge James Boasberg on Tuesday.
The decision hands a defeat to the Federal Trade Commission, the US antitrust watchdog, which sued Meta in 2020 claiming the company secured a monopoly in social media by purchasing its rivals.
A US district judge in Washington has ruled that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms did not violate antitrust laws with its acquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp more than a decade ago.
In April, Judge Boasberg presided over a lengthy bench trial that featured testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg who argued that TikTok and YouTube had shaken up the social media landscape.
In his decision, Judge Boasberg noted that the FTC reviewed and approved of Meta's 2012 acquisition of Instagram and the 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp.
The agency had argued the company overpaid when it purchased Instagram for $1 billion and WhatsApp for $19 billion.
Judge Boasberg described a constantly changing social media landscape, "with apps surging and receding, chasing one craze and moving on from others, and adding new features with each passing year.
Even if Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, he said the FTC failed to show "that it continues to hold such power now" as Meta's market share "seems to be shrinking."
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