United States of America: Issued Federal Court ruling to proceed to trial in FTC lawsuit on Facebook's alleged creation and maintenance of a monopoly position (Civil Action No. 20-3590)

On 13 November 2024, the Federal Court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit alleging Meta, the parent company of Facebook, holds an illegal monopoly may proceed to trial. The Court granted Meta’s motion for summary judgment on one count concerning interoperability but denied the remainder, allowing the majority of the case to proceed. The ruling follows the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit’s April 2023 decision to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit initially filed by FTC and other states. The lawsuit accuses Meta of creating and maintaining a monopoly position by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC and states’ original complaint sought to reverse these acquisitions, arguing that Meta’s “buy-or-bury” strategy violated antitrust laws. However, in 2021, a federal judge dismissed the case, noting that it had been filed long after the acquisitions were completed in 2012 and 2014. The appellate court supported this ruling while also rejecting claims that Meta’s policies, which restricted app developers from duplicating its core products, were anti-competitive or amounted to exclusive dealing. These policies were not found to violate federal antitrust laws.