We have seen a surge in regulatory authorities ensuring that companies act responsibly and are not involved in any kind of practices that discourage competition and could be, in fact, anti-competitive. Google has been facing a lot of pressure for its monopoly in the search engine market, and many other big companies are also facing scrutiny. Now, Meta seems to be in hot waters as an antitrust lawsuit has been pursued against it for dominating the social media industry through WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta to FTC trial due to its decision to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp and allegedly discourage competition
The FTC seems to be aggressively working towards ensuring that companies do not indulge in monopolistic practices and form dominance that discourages healthy competition from sustaining in the market. Meta seems to be the target now, as the DC District Court Judge ruled on Wednesday that the company formed domination in the social media industry through its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp and is facing an antitrust lawsuit as a result.
FTC has been pursuing Meta since 2020 for allegedly halting competition by buying the two biggest social media platforms and creating market dominance by eliminating potential rivals. A judge dismissed the case in 2021 for lacking sufficient evidence to support the claim, but FTC later submitted an amended complaint, and the judge then allowed the case to proceed that could potentially separate Instagram and WhatsApp from the social media giant.
Meta requested the case be dismissed in April, but this time around, Judge James Boasberg ruled primarily in favor of the FTC, and the case will, hence, move forward. However, the judge dismissed a specific claim about Meta's anti-competitive practices that involved restricting developer access to its API unless they agreed not to compete with Meta's apps, narrowing the scope of the case.
Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro gave a statement to The Verge about the ongoing case and shared their confidence in coming out victorious and how the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp was, in fact, good for the consumers. To back up his statement, he suggested that the acquisitions are dated and have been cleared by the FTC previously. He also went on to claim that the platforms acquired are, in fact, in competition with X, TikTok, YouTube, iMessage, and many other services.
While the FTC actively pursues companies that allegedly discourage competition, it is important to point out that the antitrust lawsuit against Meta was during the Trump administration, and he was generally more lenient to mergers and acquisitions. Now, with the second Trump presidency, he might resume his power over regulatory authorities that have changed many regulations since his last tenure.
