Meta wins in FTC antitrust lawsuit involving Instagram and WhatsApp deals.

Meta Platforms Inc. won a crucial lawsuit on Tuesday, as a federal judge in the United States ruled that the company's acquisitions of the photo-sharing app Instagram and the messaging service WhatsApp did not violate US antitrust laws. Washington federal district judge James Boasberg stated that the Federal Trade Commission failed to prove that these transactions allowed the tech giant to illegally monopolize the social networking market. "Given the ever-changing landscape of apps and the addition of new features every year, the FTC struggled to define the boundaries of Meta's product market, which is understandable," the judge wrote. "However, regardless of whether Meta had monopolistic power in the past, the agency must prove that it still holds such power. Today's ruling by the court concludes that the FTC did not do this." This ruling is a significant setback for the federal government, which filed a lawsuit against the tech giant for violating antitrust laws during the first term of the Trump administration in 2020. The news helped Meta's stock price recover some of its losses. As of 1:25 PM New York time, the stock was down 0.7% at $597.71.