Meta beats FTC case, won’t have to spin off WhatsApp, Instagram – NPR

Judge Sides With Meta In Antitrust Trial A federal judge ruled against the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust suit alleging that Meta had stifled competition by buying up its rivals. SCOTT DETROW, HOST: The tech company Meta won a victory in federal court today. A judge ruled it is not operating as an illegal monopoly. The decision means Meta will not be forced to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp. The ruling comes after a seven-week trial back in April. NPR’s Bobby Allyn covered that trial and joins us now to talk about what this all means for Meta and the tech industry as a whole. Hey, Bobby. BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Scott. DETROW: Let’s start with the decision. What exactly did the judge rule? ALLYN: Yeah, at a high level, the federal judge, James Boasberg, said the Federal Trade Commission did not clear the high bar for establishing Meta as a monopoly. In order to show any given company is monopolizing a market, you have to define that market. And here, regulators argued Meta was abusing power in the personal social networking market, meaning chatting with friends and family on social media. But Boasberg said that definition had one big problem.
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