Meta’s Triumph Against the FTC Is a Win for the Rule of Law, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following the decision by Judge James Boasberg in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia finding that Meta did not engage in illegal monopolization through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Joseph V. Coniglio, director of antitrust and innovation policy:

As ITIF has long argued, the Federal Trade Commission’s case against Meta was highly flawed from the start, and today’s landmark opinion makes that unmistakably clear. It is an important reminder that courts provide an essential backstop against rogue antitrust agencies that veer from the rule of law in ill-conceived assaults on Big Tech.

The FTC’s bizarre contention that Meta competed only with Instagram, Snapchat, and MeWe was never well-founded. As the court explained, the key economic evidence made abundantly clear that Meta also competes intensely with video platforms like TikTok and YouTube in today’s broad social media space.

What’s more, even if the FTC could prove that Meta had monopoly power, it was highly unlikely to be able to show that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were anticompetitive. The huge growth of these products under Meta’s watch belies any claim that consumers were harmed.

Meta’s victory today is, for all intents and purposes, the end of the long-running crusade by a radical antitrust movement to dismantle America’s leading technology companies. American consumers, innovation, and competitiveness will be better for it.

Contact: Sydney Mack, [email protected]