Meta Platforms is set to face a trial in 2025, following allegations by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to stifle emerging competition, Reuters reported.
The trial, scheduled to begin on 14 April next year, was confirmed by the US District Court for the District of Columbia Chief Judge James Boasberg.
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The FTC initially sued Meta in 2020, accusing the company of illegally maintaining a monopoly on personal social networks.
Although Judge Boasberg dismissed the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit in 2021, the agency filed an amended complaint, which was allowed to proceed.
Meta’s subsequent request to dismiss the case was denied by Boasberg.
Judge Boasberg dismissed a specific claim that Meta acted anti-competitively by restricting developers’ access to its API unless they agreed not to compete with its apps.
However, the FTC claims that Meta, formerly Facebook, overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate potential threats rather than compete in the mobile ecosystem.
Earlier this month, Boasberg rejected Meta’s argument that the case should be dismissed due to an overly narrow view of social media markets.
Meta contended that the lawsuit did not consider competition from ByteDance’s TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube, X, and Microsoft’s LinkedIn.
Boasberg noted that while the case should proceed to trial, “time and technological change pose serious challenges” to the FTC’s market definition.
In his 13 November ruling, he remarked: “The commission faces hard questions about whether its claims can hold up in the crucible of trial. Indeed, its positions at times strain this country’s creaking antitrust precedents to their limits.”
Last week, the Competition Commission of India imposed a $25.4m (Rs 2.13bn) fine on Meta for “abusing its dominant position”.
