FTC antitrust case against Meta can move to trial, court rules
(Photo by Daniel Constante/Shutterstock)
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing Facebook owner Meta of holding an illegal monopoly over social media can proceed to trial, handing the agency a victory after previous setbacks in making its case in court.
The FTC first launched the complaint in December 2020, near the end of the first Trump administration. The suit was initially dismissed the following year after a federal court found that the agency had failed to make its case that the company held a dominant position in social networking. The suit seeks to break up the giant, which also owns the photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging platform WhatsApp.
The FTC refiled an amended version of the lawsuit later that year under its Democratic chair, Lina Khan, an appointee of President Joe Biden and an outspoken critic of the tech giants. Regulators argued then that the court should reconsider the case on the basis that Meta plays a singular role in social media and could not be fairly said to be competing in the same field as apps such as TikTok and Twitter.
The renewed case has been widely viewed as a test of Khan’s aggressive enforcement efforts against the tech sector, which have come under fire from tech industry and business leaders but have been hailed by liberal Democrats and some conservatives, including Vice President-elect JD Vance.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg sided against a motion by Meta to have the revamped lawsuit dismissed, finding that the agency offered “more robust and detailed” evidence to suggest that the company, which changed its name from Facebook to Meta, has an alleged monopoly.
In April, Meta launched a last-ditch effort to avert a full trial, asking the court to issue a summary judgment in the case. Boasberg largely rejected that maneuver Wednesday, meaning that the tech giant will have to stand trial over the allegations.
While the decision on the motion for summary judgment was made public early Wednesday, Boasberg said the court would be releasing the full opinion explaining his rationale later in the day.
“This case, which began under President Trump and was refined during the Biden administration, represents a bipartisan effort to curtail Meta’s monopoly power and restore competition to ensure freedom and innovation in the social media ecosystem,” FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said in a statement.
“We are confident that the evidence at trial will show that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have been good for competition and consumers,” Meta spokesman Chris Sgro said in a statement, adding that the company “will review the opinion when it’s filed.”
The years-long case is expected to drag into Trump’s upcoming second term, which could offer an early look into how forcefully his administration will go after tech companies on competition matters.
During the campaign, Trump assailed Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg over claims that he has sought to influence U.S. politics, suggesting that he could face jail time if he continues to do so.
But Trump dialed back his criticisms after Zuckerberg made a public pledge to remain “neutral” in the U.S. presidential race.
The FTC has separately scrutinized the company’s privacy practices, striking a record-breaking $5 billion settlement with the tech giant in 2019 over allegations that it mishandled users’ personal information. Under Khan, the agency has pushed to expand the terms of that agreement to prohibit the company from monetizing data from minors.
