""The landscape that existed only five years ago when the Federal Trade Commission brought this antitrust suit has changed markedly," said Judge Boasberg. "While it once might have made sense to partition apps into separate markets of social networking and social media, that wall has since broken down." "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," said Boasberg."
"Prosecutors representing the FTC argued that Meta had systematically tracked and purchased companies that it viewed as competitive threats, following Facebook/Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 2008 maxim, "It's better to buy than compete." Zuckerberg has since sought to downplay such attitudes, and in April testimony said Facebook had not purchased Instagram in 2012 to neutralize it. He admitted, however, that internal e-mails circulating at the time of its purchase for $1 billion and stock options did not fully reflect his true enthusiasm for the non-monetized photo-sharing app."
The FTC filed an antitrust suit alleging Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp to eliminate competition and could be forced to divest. Judge James Boasberg ruled that the market landscape has changed and that apps can no longer be neatly partitioned into separate social networking and social media markets. The court required proof of current monopoly power and found the FTC did not meet that burden. Prosecutors argued Meta followed Mark Zuckerberg's 2008 maxim, "It's better to buy than compete," while Zuckerberg testified he did not buy Instagram to neutralize it but acknowledged internal emails showed strong enthusiasm at the time.
Read at www.dw.com
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