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Federal Court Rejects FTC’s Bid to Break Up Facebook

It’s a setback for the FTC as the case could have resulted in Facebook divesting from Instagram and WhatsApp.

A federal court dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against Facebook that could have forced the social-media giant to split from Instagram and WhatsApp, CNBC reported. The FTC sued Facebook in December 2020 arguing that the company took steps to undermine its competition and preserve its monopoly, including by buying platforms Instagram and WhatsApp nearly a decade ago. The court threw out the case, ruling that the FTC was unable to show that Facebook holds a monopoly in the social-media market and pointing out the long delay between Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and the 2020 case filing. The FTC can file an amended complaint to alter its argument as the court did not put an official end to the case.