Meta must face FTC trial that could separate Instagram and WhatsApp

Meta must face the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit that accuses the company of dominating the social media industry through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, a DC District Court Judge ruled on Wednesday.

Meta once again asked the court to dismiss the FTC’s case in April. Boasberg has now ruled largely in favor of the FTC, though he dismissed a claim that Meta acted anticompetitively by preventing developers from accessing its API unless they agreed not to compete with its apps.

In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said the company is “confident” the trial will show its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were “good” for consumers. “More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared these deals, and despite the overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage, and many others, the Commission is wrongly continuing to assert that no deal is ever truly final, and businesses can be punished for innovating.”