Judge rules in favor of Meta over FTC in antitrust trial

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Federal Trade Commission failed to prove that Meta holds a monopoly in the market of “personal social networking.” In the ruling, the judge wrote: “(The) FTC has argued that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and minor player MeWe compete only with one another in a market that the agency calls ‘personal social networking’. It claims that Meta holds a monopoly in this market and, faced with challenges to its dominance, preserved its monopoly not by outcompeting its upstart rivals Instagram and WhatsApp, but by buying them… The Court ultimately concludes that the agency has not carried its burden: Meta holds no monopoly in the relevant market. Judgment must therefore be entered in its favor.”