Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, then known as Facebook, overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate nascent threats instead of competing on its own in the mobile ecosystem, the FTC claims.
Boasberg let that claim stand, but dismissed the FTC’s allegation that Facebook bolstered its dominance by restricting third-party app developers’ access to the platform unless they agreed not to compete with its core services.
“We are confident that the evidence at trial will show that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have been good for competition and consumers,” a Meta spokesperson said Wednesday.