"The Federal Trade Commission "continues to insist that Meta competes with the same old rivals it has for the last decade, that the company holds a monopoly among that small set, and that it maintained that monopoly through anticompetitive acquisitions," Boasberg wrote in his ruling. "Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now. The Court's verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so.""
"Meta Platforms Inc., the FTC had argued, has maintained a monopoly by pursuing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's strategy, "expressed in 2008: 'It is better to buy than compete.' True to that maxim, Facebook has systematically tracked potential rivals and acquired companies that it viewed as serious competitive threats.""
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found that the Federal Trade Commission failed to prove Meta currently holds monopoly power in social networking. The ruling prevents a remedy that could have required Meta to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC argued that Meta followed CEO Mark Zuckerberg's acquisition strategy to neutralize competitive threats and maintain dominance. Zuckerberg testified and downplayed decade-old internal emails cited by the FTC. The decision contrasts with recent cases finding Google an illegal monopoly in search and online advertising and reduces immediate regulatory pressure on Meta's social platforms.
Read at San Diego Union-Tribune
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