A U.S. District Judge has ruled in favor of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) in a high-profile antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), ending a legal battle that began in December 2020. The FTC accused Meta of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the personal social networking market through its acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, but Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., dismissed the case, citing the FTC's failure to prove that Meta holds monopoly power today.
In a memorandum opinion released on Tuesday, Judge Boasberg emphasized that the technology industry has evolved significantly since the early days of Facebook, with platforms like TikTok and YouTube now providing fierce competition. Boasberg wrote that people treat TikTok and YouTube as substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, and the FTC offered no empirical evidence to counter this. The ruling concluded that whether Meta had monopoly power in the past, the agency must show it continues to hold such power now, which it did not.
The trial, which lasted seven weeks and concluded in April 2025, included testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former operating chief Sheryl Sandberg, and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom. Zuckerberg acknowledged during the trial that Facebook's popularity has declined, but argued that Meta faces strong competition from fast-growing platforms. Following the verdict, Meta's stock (META) traded at $598.39, and the company issued a statement welcoming the decision, noting it highlights the competitive nature of digital platforms.
This ruling marks a significant setback for the FTC, which is pursuing similar antitrust actions against other tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple. It also sets a precedent for how courts evaluate monopoly claims in rapidly evolving digital markets, with implications for future regulatory scrutiny under the Biden administration and global regulators.
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