The U.S. judicial system has initiated a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of unfair competition in social media through its purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp. The antitrust agency aims to overturn these acquisitions. Reuters reports on the matter.
The Federal Trade Commission claims that these acquisitions were intended to eliminate potential competitors that could threaten Facebook's dominance in the social media landscape. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Meta's legal chief, Jennifer Newstead, argues that this case is unfounded and hampers investment in technology.
"It’s absurd that the FTC is trying to dismantle a major American company at the same time the administration is attempting to protect the Chinese TikTok," Newstead wrote.
Since Trump's election, Meta has been actively engaging with him, rejecting content moderation that Republicans consider censorship, and donating $1 million to his inauguration. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also made several visits to the White House in recent weeks.
Zuckerberg is expected to testify in court, where he will be questioned about emails in which he discussed purchasing Instagram to eliminate a competitor for Facebook and expressed concerns that WhatsApp, a messaging service, could turn into a social network.
In court filings, Meta insists that acquiring Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 was beneficial for users. The company also argues that Zuckerberg’s previous statements are outdated in light of the intense competition posed by TikTok, YouTube, and Apple’s iMessage.
The Federal Trade Commission believes that Meta holds a monopolistic position in the market for communication platforms. It states that Meta’s main competitors in the U.S. are only Snapchat and MeWe, while services like X (Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit, which focus on content sharing among strangers based on common interests, are not considered direct competitors of Meta.
The trial is set for July 2025. If the FTC wins, it will then need to prove that forcibly divesting Meta of assets like Instagram or WhatsApp would indeed restore competition in the market.