F.T.C. files appeal after loss in Meta antitrust case

The Federal Trade Commission filed a notice on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia appealing its loss in a lawsuit that accused Meta of violating antitrust laws to protect a monopoly in social networking.

At a trial last year, Judge James E. Boasberg considered the government’s claim that Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp to eliminate nascent competitors. He ruled in November that Meta had not broken the law. The trial featured testimony from witnesses including Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram founder Kevin Systrom.

The agency said, "Meta violated our antitrust laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp," an agency spokesman, Joe Simonson, said. Meta did not immediately have a comment. The F.T.C. argued that Meta bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014 to get rid of competitive threats, and a judge said the growth of platforms such as TikTok and YouTube undercut the government’s case.

The F.T.C.’s notice of appeal is preliminary. The agency will lay out its legal argument later to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as it seeks to reverse what it described as a setback in efforts to rein in the power of the largest technology companies.

Key Topics

Tech, Federal Trade Commission, Meta, Instagram, Whatsapp, Mark Zuckerberg