Meta Wins Major Antitrust Case As US Judge Rules No Monopoly

A US federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit against Meta, ruling that the tech giant does not hold a monopoly in social media.

The ruling delivers a significant victory to Meta after a five-year legal battle that began when the US agency filed suit in December 2020, claiming the company illegally maintained its monopoly by acquiring Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competitive threats.

Judge James Boasberg of the federal district court in Washington concluded that Meta faces sufficient competition from rivals TikTok and YouTube, preventing the company from exercising monopoly power in the social media market.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had argued that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and minor player MeWe competed in a distinct market separate from video entertainment platforms like TikTok and YouTube.

But Boasberg found that distinction no longer holds in today's convergent social media landscape.

"Meta holds no monopoly in the relevant market," the judge declared, noting that Facebook and Instagram have fundamentally transformed in recent years to primarily show users short videos recommended by algorithms -- nearly identical to TikTok's core offering.

The court found that Americans now spend only 17 percent of their time on Facebook viewing content from friends, with that figure dropping to just seven percent on Instagram.

Instead, users predominantly watch "Reels" -- short videos from strangers recommended by AI.

"Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have thus evolved to have nearly identical main features," Boasberg wrote, citing extensive empirical evidence showing that users treat these platforms as substitutes.

The ruling represents a major setback for US antitrust enforcers who have pursued aggressive action against Big Tech companies in recent years, with mixed results in court.

The US government has launched five major cases against tech giants in recent years, including two against Google and suits against Apple and Amazon.

A different US judge in September rejected a government bid to break up Google, after the search engine juggernaut was found to have acted as an illegal monopoly.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)