Judge Rules Meta Lacks Illegal Social Networking Monopoly

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Meta Platforms does not maintain an illegal monopoly in social networking, handing the company a significant victory in a long-running antitrust case brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued the decision in Washington, D.C., following a trial that concluded in late May. The FTC had accused Meta of anticompetitive behavior, alleging the company solidified its dominance through acquisitions like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. Regulators sought to force Meta to divest those platforms to foster competition. Boasberg, however, found that the FTC failed to prove Meta currently holds monopoly power, even if it may have in the past.

"The landscape that existed only five years ago when the Federal Trade Commission brought this antitrust suit has changed markedly," Boasberg wrote in his 58-page opinion. He criticized the agency's market definition for excluding key competitors such as TikTok, owned by ByteDance, and YouTube, owned by Alphabet's Google. "Even if YouTube is out, including TikTok alone defeats the FTC's case," the judge stated.

Meta argued during the trial that its acquisitions...