Meta wins antitrust case against Instagram and WhatsApp
19 November 2025 15:08
On Tuesday, November 18, Meta Platforms, the company that owns Facebook, won a high-profile legal battle with the US authorities: a federal judge ruled that the corporation does not hold a monopoly position in the social media market, thus thwarting regulators’ attempts to annul the company’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports citing Reuters.
This decision was the first major success for the tech giants in their fight against the antitrust campaign launched during the first administration of US President Donald Trump. This is a serious blow to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is simultaneously pursuing a case against Amazon.
The agency has been trying to force Meta to restructure or sell Instagram and WhatsApp to restore competition, claiming that the company spent billions of dollars on these acquisitions to eliminate emerging competitors.
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. At the time, the FTC did not attempt to block these deals, but in 2020, it filed a lawsuit claiming that Meta, then still called Facebook, had a monopoly on U.S. platforms for sharing content with friends and family.
