FTC v. Meta

Federal Trade Commission v. Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook, Inc.) is an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Facebook parent company Meta Platforms. The lawsuit alleged that Meta has accumulated monopoly power via anti-competitive mergers, with the suit centering on the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.[1]

The suit was filed on December 8, 2020, in conjunction with 46 states. The lawsuit was initially dismissed in June 2021, but was refiled with an amended complaint in August 2021. The case survived Meta's motion to dismiss the lawsuit in January 2022 and April 2024. The trial began on April 14, 2025, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying during the first day of the proceedings.[2][3]

Proceedings

On June 28, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the FTC's complaint, as legally insufficient.[9] A December 2021 New Yorker profile of Lina Khan, the Biden-appointed chair of the FTC, describes the court's decision as "a harsh criticism of how Khan's predecessors [the Trump-appointed FTC Commissioners] had written their complaint." According to the article, the decision argued that the FTC "had provided no proof for its assertion that Facebook held a monopoly position in social networking, but, instead, seemed to assume that everyone simply saw it that way."[10]

However, following a new amended complaint from the FTC on August 19, 2021,[11][12][13] presiding judge James E. Boasberg, denied Meta's motion to dismiss the case on January 11, 2022. Meta had sought dismissal on grounds including that Khan should have recused herself from the vote of FTC commissioners to file the case, on the basis of her previous writing as a scholar and an analyst, which allegedly showed bias against Meta.[14][15]

After the dismissal effort was denied, both the FTC and Meta engaged in a discovery process. This included requests for information from Snap Inc.'s Snapchat and ByteDance's TikTok.[16]

Trial date

On February 23, 2022, Reuters reported that the FTC proposed a trial date of December 11, 2023 to allow for sufficient discovery. However, attorneys for Meta urged the court to delay the trial date to February 13, 2024.[17] On February 22, 2024, the FTC told the district court that the lawsuit could be ready for trial before the end of the year. Attorneys for Meta pushed back on this, and cast doubts that a "case of this size and complexity" could go to trial before the end of 2024.[16]

In April 2024, Meta filed a motion to again dismiss the case, with Judge Boasberg ruling on November 13 that the company must face a trial regarding antitrust allegations by the FTC through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.[18][19] On November 25, the judge ruled that the case against Meta would go to trial on April 14, 2025.[20]

court	United States District Court for the District of Columbia
start date	December 8, 2020
date decided	November 18, 2025
judges	James E. Boasberg
italic title	yes

Background and initial filing

Proceedings

Trial date

Analysis

See also

External links

References

Background and initial filing

Proceedings

Trial date

Analysis

Related cases

See also

External links

References