Judge rules Meta isn’t a monopoly

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Meta walked away victorious after a federal judge ruled that, no, the company has not illegally monopolized social media, at least not the slice of it the Federal Trade Commission was targeting.

US District Court Judge James Boasberg essentially told the FTC, “Nice try, but the market’s changed since 2019.” 

The case hinged on a narrow category the FTC called “personal social networking,” which supposedly included Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Notably missing from that lineup? 

TikTok, the app that went from “silly dance videos” to “existential threat to Meta” faster than you can say “FYP.”

Boasberg wrote that any walls separating social networking from broader social media have “broken down,” and that in today’s world, users bounce between platforms so easily that defining strict categories is like trying to keep up with the latest TikTok trend: pointless and exhausting. 

One of his key examples: when TikTok briefly blinked out during its nearly-there US ban, users immediately flocked to Instagram and Facebook, proving the apps compete far more closely than the FTC insisted.

That shift, Boasberg argued, undermined the government’s claim that Meta still holds monopoly power over a tiny corner of the market it supposedly dominated years ago. 

Past dominance isn’t enough, he said, the FTC needed to prove Meta is illegally crushing competition now, not in the pre-TikTok dark ages.

Meta, unsurprisingly, popped champagne. A spokesperson said the ruling “recognizes that Meta faces fierce competition,” adding that the company is basically an engine of American innovation, thank you very much. 

The FTC, meanwhile, was decidedly not celebrating. 

A spokesperson accused Boasberg, who’s currently facing impeachment articles from GOP lawmakers for unrelated cases, of stacking the deck against them, and said the agency is “reviewing all options.”

This marks the second big antitrust loss for the FTC against Meta, following its failed attempt to block the company’s purchase of VR fitness startup Within. 

With mixed outcomes in other tech monopoly cases, the government’s scorecard is starting to look a little uneven, and Big Tech is keeping its winning streak alive, one courtroom at a time.