Facebook has recently changed its name to Meta. Will Meta have to sell two of its popular apps – WhatsApp and Instagram? It is possible. Let us know why we are saying this.
Facebook’s parent company Meta is in trouble at the moment. The American agency FTC alleges that Meta is monopolizing.
In such a situation, he should sell Instagram and WhatsApp. After getting the green signal from the court, now the FTC will drag Facebook to the court.
Facebook has recently changed its name to Meta. Will Meta have to sell two of its popular apps – WhatsApp and Instagram? It is possible. Let us know why we are saying this.
American social media giant Meta (formerly Facebook) has been facing antitrust allegations for a long time.
There are allegations on the company that it is not leaving a chance for other small companies to survive. The company is accused of occupying the social media space in America.
There have also been allegations on Facebook that it does not allow its competition to grow. If Facebook sees that someone is competing with it, it either merges it with itself or does not give a fairground to them.
For all these reasons, several times Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was summoned to the US Parliament and sharp questions were made against him.
FTC gets green signal from the court
The US agency FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has got a big victory in the anti-trust case. Now the FTC can drag Meta to court.
The FTC wants Meta to sell two of its popular apps. Let us tell you that the FTC is an independent agency of the US government that protects the interests of the consumer.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Meta of alleged anti-trust violations and the same case is still going on.
In this case, a federal judge has allowed the FTC to take Meta to court for antitrust violations.
Significantly, last year the FTC challenged Facebook for alleged anti-trust violations, but then the court rejected the FTC’s argument due to a lack of details.
Once again the FTC filed the case and this time the FTC got successful.
According to the report, this time the FTC has gathered a lot of facts against Meta. These facts have been collected to prove that Facebook is creating a monopoly in social networking.
The judge said, this time FTC did good homework
US District Judge James Boasberg has said that the FTC has sufficient evidence that Meta has created a monopoly in social networking. Last time the FTC did not provide any data to prove this.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Facebook for antitrust.
The FTC believes that Meta is monopolizing. That’s why he should sell WhatsApp and Instagram.
District Judge James Boasberg said that this time the FTC has enough data against Facebook compared to the previous one.
He wrote that the FTC has also used ComScore’s data this time, which shows that Meta has more than 70% daily active users since 2016.
The judge has also said that in short, the FTC has done its homework well this time. Obviously, Meta would not want to sell its two big apps WhatsApp and Instagram at any cost.
That’s why Meta petitioned the court to dismiss the FTC lawsuit. But this time the court has rejected this application of Facebook itself.
Even though the judge has given a green signal to FTC by rejecting Meta’s argument, this path is not easy for FTC.
According to the report, the judge has also indicated that this fight will not be easy for the FTC.
Significantly, in 2012, when Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars, approval was given by the FTC for this. After this WhatsApp was bought, and even then the FTC approved this acquisition.
Now the FTC argues that Facebook deliberately bought these apps one by one to create a monopoly by eliminating competition.
Big win for FTC chairman Leena Khan
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the US government. The main work of this agency is to protect the interests of the consumer and to enforce the civil anti-trust law.
Recently, American President Joe Biden has chosen Leena Khan as the head of the FTC. Leena Khan is the youngest FTC chairman ever. His age is 32 years. Leena Khan is considered very strict in anti-trust matters.
This decision of the judge is considered important for Leena Khan and it is like a big victory for her. Although the road ahead is not easy, because now they have to collect more evidence against Facebook.
What did Facebook say?
Interestingly, Facebook has also expressed happiness after the court’s decision. Although Facebook is happy about the fact that some of the arguments of the FTC have been rejected by the judge.
There was also an argument in this that Facebook does not give access to enough data to its competition. Facebook said in defense that this policy has been changed in 2018 itself.
A Facebook spokesperson said in the statement, ‘We are confident that the weakness of this FTC claim will be exposed.
We are where we are today because of our investments in Instagram and WhatsApp. It is good for competition as well as it is good for business and people as well.
However, the road ahead is difficult for Leena Khan. This fight in the court is expected to go on for a long time. But if the FTC wins, Meta may have to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
