Meta could be forced to separate Instagram and WhatsApp

A DC District Court Judge ruled on Wednesday that Meta will have to face the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit. This lawsuit accuses Meta of dominating the social media industry by buying Instagram and WhatsApp.

This suit was first filed by the FTC in 2020. Judge James Boasberg initially dismissed the FTC’s lawsuit in 2021, but an amended complaint was filed, which he ultimately let proceed. Meta asked the court to dismiss the case in April, which Judge Boasberg has now ruled mostly in favor of the FTC. But not entirely, as Judge Boasberg did dismiss a claim that Meta acted anticompetitive by preventing developers from accessing its API unless they agreed not to compete with its apps.

In a statement, Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said that “more than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared these deals, and despite the overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage and many others, the Commission is wrongly continuing to assert that no deal is ever truly final, and businesses can be punished for innovating.”

President-Elect Trump’s Administration is expected to be more lax with mergers and acquisitions

Despite the fact that this lawsuit was filed during Trump’s first term as President, the incoming administration is expected to take a more lax approach to mergers and acquisitions. Obviously, tech companies like Meta are starting to take notice. We’ve seen big tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg cozying up to President-Elect Trump in recent weeks.

This is also due to the fact that President-Elect Trump will most likely replace the current FTC Chair, Lina Khan.

So what could happen to Meta? Well, the FTC could push to force Meta to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp, separating them from the rest of Meta’s apps – like Facebook and Messenger. But this likely won’t finish until after President-Elect Trump’s term is over with.