Judge: Meta Doesn't Have to Break Off Instagram, WhatsApp

Meta has prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp. US District Judge James Boasberg ruled Tuesday that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking, the AP reports. The historic antitrust trial wrapped up in late May. The FTC argued that the company should not have been allowed to buy Instagram in 2012 or WhatsApp in 2014, reports CNBC. Boasberg's decision follows two separate rulings that branded Google an illegal monopoly in both search and online advertising, dealing yet another regulatory blow to the tech industry that for years enjoyed nearly unbridled growth.

Boasberg said the social media landscape has changed and Meta now faces "fierce competition" from the likes of TikTok and YouTube, CNBC reports. The FTC "continues to insist that Meta competes with the same old rivals it has for the last decade, that the company holds a monopoly among that small set, and that it maintained that monopoly through anticompetitive acquisitions," Boasberg wrote in his ruling. "Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now. The Court's verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so."

Boasberg noted that there has been a big shift towards video on social media, and "the most-used part of Meta's apps is thus indistinguishable from the offerings on TikTok and YouTube." He wrote: "While each of Meta's empirical showings can be quibbled with, they all tell a consistent story: people treat TikTok and YouTube as substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, and the amount of competitive overlap is economically important."