MediaDailyNews: State AGs Urge Court To Revive Antitrust Claims Against Meta
More than two dozen attorneys general are urging a federal appellate court to reinstate the Federal Trade Commission's claim that Meta Platforms violated antitrust law by
monopolizing a market for "personal social networking" services.U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C. dismissed the FTC's case last year, ruling that
Meta isn't a monopoly because it currently competes with YouTube and TikTok.The FTC recently asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse that ruling, arguing that the
key question isn't whether Meta currently monopolizes a market, but whether it did so in 2020, when the agency brought charges against the company.Late last week, attorneys
general from 28 states and the District of Columbia backed the FTC, arguing in a friend-of-the-court brief that a company's liability for antitrust violations should be "based on the facts at the time
of the complaint."advertisementadvertisementOtherwise, the attorneys general argue, a company accused of antitrust violations "can try to avoid liability simply by delaying the verdict until the
defendant can argue that market conditions have changed."Their papers come in a battle dating to December 2020, when the FTC claimed that Meta's acquisition of Instagram (purchased for $1 billion in
2012) and WhatsApp (bought for $19 billion in 2014) enabled the company to maintain a monopoly.The agency alleged the purchases were part of a “buy-or-bury scheme”
that enabled Meta to preserve its dominance in the “personal social networking market.”Boasberg held a trial last year, after which Meta argued that the evidence failed to establish a separate market for "personal social networking services."Instead, Meta contended, the evidence showed that the company had "evolved into a diverse global provider of entertaining and informative content" that competes with social apps such
as TikTok and YouTube.The FTC disagreed, arguing
Facebook and Instagram serve different "core purposes" than TikTok or YouTube. The FTC specifically contended that Facebook and Instagram focus on connecting users with friends and family, but TikTok
and YouTube are focused on entertainment.Boasberg sided with Meta, ruling that YouTube and TikTok are in the same "product market" as Meta, and therefore prevent the company
from holding a monopoly.He wrote that the social media landscape "changed markedly" since the FTC filed suit, noting TikTok's emergence as a competitor to Facebook.The attorneys general are now essentially arguing in their friend-of-the-court brief that whether Meta currently holds a monopoly is more relevant to the type of antitrust remedies a
court could order -- not whether the company violated antitrust law.Meta is expected to file its response by August 20.A New York-led coalition of state attorneys
general previously brought a separate suit against Meta over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. That matter was dismissed on the grounds that the attorneys general waited too long after the
acquisitions to sue.
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