Meta asks judge to dismiss FTC antitrust case

By Jon Swartz

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. on Friday urged a judge to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit that seeks to break up the company.

In a motion for summary judgment, Meta (META) argued that the regulatory agency can't prove that consumers would be better off without its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta also claimed that it has spent billions of dollars to develop the two properties.

The FTC has until May 24 to respond.

Meta further warned in a blog post Friday that the FTC's suit could be dangerous for innovation. "The decision to revisit done deals is tantamount to announcing that no sale will ever be final," the company said.

Meta's Friday filing called the FTC's market definition too narrow. The agency defines the company's relevant market as personal social-networking services, which contains a social graph where users can engage with friends and family on primarily personal topics.

Under what Meta thinks would be the right market definition - one that includes services like YouTube and TikTok - the FTC can't plausibly claim it has monopoly power (generally considered to be at least a 60% share of the market).

Shares of Meta were up nearly 3% in late-afternoon trading Friday.

-Jon Swartz

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04-05-24 1509ET

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