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Meta wins monopoly trial, convinces judge that social networking is dead
After years of pushback from the Federal Trade Commission over Metaβs acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta has defeated the FTCβs monopoly claims.
In a Tuesday ruling, US District Judge James Boasberg said the FTC failed to show that Meta has a monopoly in a market dubbed βpersonal social networking.β In that narrowly defined market, the FTC unsuccessfully argued, Meta supposedly faces only two rivals, Snapchat and MeWe, which struggle to compete due to its alleged monopoly.
But the days of grouping apps into βseparate markets of social networking and social mediaβ are over, Boasberg wrote. He cited the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who βposited that no man can ever step into the same river twice,β while telling the FTC they missed their chance to block Metaβs purchase.


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