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Meta will have to face the Federal Trade Commission in court over the antitrust lawsuit that accuses it of acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp to dominate the social media industry and choke competition.
As reported by The Verge, a DC District Court Judge made the decision on Wednesday to continue the lawsuit that started back in 2020. The case was dismissed in 2021 by Judge James Boasberg, but the FTC filed an amended complaint, and while Meta asked to close the case again in April, Boasberg has now ruled largely in favor of the FTC. However, he dismissed the claim that Meta engaged in anti-competitive practices by restricting developers' access to its API unless they agreed not to create competing apps.
Meta's spokesperson Christopher Sgro told The Verge that the company is "confident" that the trial will prove its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were "good" for consumers.
"More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared these deals, and despite the overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage, and many others, the Commission is wrongly continuing to assert that no deal is ever truly final, and businesses can be punished for innovating."
If Meta is wrong, could the FTC-favored decision lead to the separation of Instagram and WhatsApp? I doubt it, but we'll have to wait and see.
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