(NewsNation) — The long-awaited antitrust trial involving Meta against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will begin Monday.
The FTC alleges Meta violated competition laws when purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp, in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
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U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg will preside over the case and decide if Meta’s means of ensuring social media dominance was illegal.
According to NPR, the FTC has contended that the only means of ensuring competitive balance is for Meta to divest its ownership of WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta’s lawyers argue they did not acquire the companies illegally and the FTC is attempting to persecute the social media giant.
“This is a critical test case for whether the antitrust laws can be used to unwind mergers designed to eliminate upstart competition,” Gene Kimmelman, a former senior official in the antitrust division of the DoJ told The New York Times.
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“A win for the government would give consumers more choices and opportunities to switch across social media platforms without having to be on Facebook,” Kimmelman added.
In a statement to NewsNation, a Meta spokesperson said, “The FTC’s lawsuit against Meta defies reality. The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others.”
“More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the Commission’s action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final,” the statement continued. “Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI.”
In Jan., Meta brought an end to fact-checking across Facebook, Threads, and Instagram; a move criticized by some as a “genuflection” to President Trump.
