Legal Action Against Meta: New Challenges in Social Media Market

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated legal proceedings against Meta, accusing the company of establishing an illegal monopoly in social media through the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. The antitrust agency aims to prove the necessity of overturning these deals. This is reported by Reuters.

The FTC asserts that these acquisitions were intended to eliminate competitors that could threaten Facebook's status as the leading social media platform. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 during Donald Trump's presidency.

Meta's legal counsel, Jennifer Newstead, described the case as baseless, arguing it hinders investment in technology.

"It is absurd that the FTC is trying to dismantle a large American company while the administration is working to save Chinese TikTok," Newstead wrote.

Since Trump's election, Meta has consistently engaged with him, rejecting content moderation that Republicans see as censorship and donating $1 million for Trump's inauguration. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also visited the White House multiple times in recent weeks.

Zuckerberg is expected to testify in court, where he will be questioned about emails in which he suggested buying Instagram to eliminate a potential competitor to Facebook and expressed concerns that WhatsApp could evolve into a social network.

In court documents, Meta argues that the acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 benefited users. The company also claims that Zuckerberg's previous statements are outdated in light of current fierce competition from TikTok (ByteDance), YouTube (Google), and Apple's iMessage.

The FTC believes that Meta holds a monopoly position in the market for platforms that connect friends and family. According to the agency, Meta's main competitors in the U.S. are only Snapchat and MeWe. In contrast, services like X (Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit, which focus on content sharing among strangers based on shared interests, are not considered direct competitors to Meta.

The trial is scheduled for July 2025. If the FTC prevails, it will need to demonstrate that forcing Meta to divest assets like Instagram or WhatsApp would indeed restore competition in the market.