It’s not over yet…
Despite a federal judge ruling against the FTC in the long-running antitrust case against Meta in November, the FTC today announced that it will appeal the ruling, which will cause Meta to appear in court again and drag the case into its fifth year of litigation.
And based on all the evidence so far, there is nothing to indicate that the FTC will come any closer to winning in court this time.
The case was first launched in 2020, when the FTC alleged that Meta had built a monopoly on social networking “through a years-long process of anticompetitive conduct.”
The lawsuit specifically targets the company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, claiming that Meta acquired both to “neutralize competition.” Which, according to the FTC, violates antitrust law, and as a result, the FTC has called for Meta to be forced to sell both apps, to address this market imbalance.
Which, at the very least, once posed a serious threat, so serious in fact that Meta initiated a program that would merge its messaging systems into all its apps, making it impossible for the company to divest IG and WhatsApp, as this would all be built into its unique core business.
Meta has seemingly given up on that push lately, likely seeing that the case would turn in its favor, while the FTC’s push has also become more outdated and harder to argue with over time, as competitors like TikTok have been able to emerge, despite Meta’s market dominance, and take a significant share of the digital advertising industry.
Proving that Meta does not have a monopoly, and in fact, TikTok’s existence has ushered in a new era of prosperity for Meta, with more than 50% of Instagram ads now appear within Reelsthe feature it replicated from TikTok.
As such, the evidence shows that real competition is not only possible in the sector, but also beneficial to the wider market. This contradicts the FTC’s case that Meta bought its way to total dominance, but the company clearly still thinks there is a case it will take to the appeals court again.
According to the FTC:
“The American economy thrives when competition can flourish and American companies can compete fairly with each other. Yet Meta has maintained its dominant position and record profits for more than a decade, not through legitimate competition, but by buying up key competitive threats. The Trump-Vance FTC will continue to fight its historic case against Meta to ensure that competition can thrive across the country for the benefit of all Americans and American businesses.”
I’m guessing Zuck called his friend Trump as soon as this announcement was made.
Because Meta has been working to ingratiate herself with the Trump administration to avoid complications like this. Meta needs the path cleared for the development of AI The US government has taken actionbut also hopes for help in avoiding local regulations and persistent fines abroad.
The more cozy Zuckerberg can get with Trump, the better off his company will be in today’s era of changing regulations. And this is just one example of how Meta must work with the government to maximize its opportunities.
I mean, in this case, I don’t think Meta will have to lean on Trump’s help, because it’s hard to see the FTC making a case that suggests its rivals can’t compete, as TikTok has done. built an $11 billion local business in the time since the committee first launched this push.
But perhaps there is more to it, and in any case Meta will have to defend herself again and hope that the court will once again approve her sentence.
In response, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone issued a statement the following statement:
“The court’s decision to reject the FTC’s arguments in this case is correct – and recognizes the fierce competition we face. Meta will continue to focus on innovation and investment in America.”
If things get worse, I suspect the Trump administration’s fear of losing ground to China in the AI war will be enough to reduce the resulting penalties. But I don’t think it will come to that.
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