Meta Platforms Inc. won a significant antitrust battle on Tuesday, as a United States judge ruled that the company does not need to divest its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, finding that it is not a monopoly.
Judge James Boasberg sided with Meta, noting that its market share is already declining.
He observed that while Meta continues to grow, so do the options for online engagement, making the company increasingly similar to its competitors.
“Meta holds no monopoly in the relevant market,” he wrote.
Looking ahead, the judge added, competition is likely to intensify further in the era of artificial intelligence.
A forced breakup would have been a major blow for Meta, which depends heavily on Instagram for advertising revenue and WhatsApp for business subscriptions and global reach.
While the company counts 3.3 billion daily users across its platforms, CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony during the seven-week trial highlighted that Facebook, the app he originally founded, is losing popularity.
“The Court’s decision today recognizes that Meta faces fierce competition,” Meta Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement provided by spokesperson Nkechi Nneji. “Our products are beneficial for people and businesses and exemplify American innovation and economic growth. We look forward to continuing to partner with the Administration and to invest in America.”
During the trial, FTC lawyers highlighted emails and internal documents they said showed Zuckerberg’s concerns about competition from Instagram and WhatsApp before Meta acquired them.
They argued that Meta’s massive user base signaled a lack of “reasonable alternatives” for consumers in social media.
Meta, however countered that the acquisitions had already received regulatory approval at the time and warned that forcing a breakup could undermine U.S. competitiveness in the tech sector.
Boasberg’s ruling noted that Meta’s apps account for only a “modest share” of total time spent in the social media market, which includes Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, MeWe, TikTok, and YouTube, and that this share is declining. He added that “even if YouTube is excluded from the relevant market, Meta still would not hold a monopoly.”
