The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has filed a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook led by Mark Zuckerberg, alleging anticompetitive practices and monopoly. This lawsuit, which began in 2020 during the administration of Donald Trump, claims that Meta acted illegally by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp to eliminate emerging competition in the social media market and maintain a monopoly in the sector.
The FTC's complaint highlights that by eliminating these competitors, Meta not only reduced competition but also halted potential advancements and innovations in the field of social media, affecting the diversity and quality of the market. The FTC argues that Meta's excessive spending on acquiring key competitors distorted the social media market and consolidated its dominance, which could have negative long-term effects on users' freedom of choice and service quality.
From Meta's perspective, the company defends its acquisitions by arguing that they aim to foster innovation and improve user experience. Meta also highlights the competition from other emerging platforms like TikTok, Google's YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), owned by X Corp. However, critics and antitrust advocates argue that by absorbing successful companies, Meta has hindered the emergence of new viable alternatives, monopolizing the social media market and restricting free competition.
Meta faces a series of legal challenges, and the outcome of this trial could set an important precedent regarding how large tech corporations will operate in the future in terms of competition and innovation in the digital space. In addition to Meta, companies like Amazon and Apple are also being sued, while Google faces two lawsuits, one of which indicates that the company is illegally hindering competition in the search engine sector.
