11/14/2024

Meta to Face Antitrust Trial over Instagram, WhatsApp Acquisitions

The FTC seeks to unwind decade-old deals

Facebook owner Meta Platforms must face trial in a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit seeking its break-up over claims that it bought Instagram and WhatsApp to crush emerging competition in social media, a judge in Washington ruled on Wednesday.

Judge James Boasberg largely denied Meta's motion to end the case filed against Facebook in 2020, during the Trump administration, alleging that the company acted illegally to maintain its social network monopoly.

Meta, then known as Facebook, overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate nascent threats instead of competing on its own in the mobile ecosystem, the FTC claims.

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