By Naomi Nix, washingtonpost.com, 11-18-25
A federal judge has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to force Meta to divest its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, saying the government hadn’t made its case that the Facebook owner is an illegal monopoly.
In his ruling Nov. 18, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in D.C. agreed with Meta that its purchases of the photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp, which it bought in 2012 and 2014, respectively, did not violate antitrust laws. Boasberg found that the social media company isn’t a monopoly and faces a broad internet ecosystem of competitors rather than the far narrower one the government defined. » Read More