Everything remains as is with Meta – at least for now (symbolic image).
Source: Sri Loganathan/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
The US government has failed in court in its attempt to force the separation of Instagram and WhatsApp from the Facebook Meta group. A US federal judge in the capital Washington dismissed antitrust proceedings against the company on Tuesday. The reason given is that Meta does not carry out an illegal monopoly in online media.
Meta is said to be violating European data protection and spying on its users’ surfing behavior. Therefore, Facebook and Instagram users are entitled to compensation.
11/17/2025 | 2:40 min
US competition authorities called for the takeover to be cancelled
The US competition authority, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused the Facebook Group of illegally buying chat service WhatsApp and photo platform Instagram to protect its monopoly position.
That’s why he’s demanding consequences, including canceling the takeover. Meta rejects these accusations and, among other things, mentions tight competition with other platforms such as TikTok.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Starting this week, Meta is allowed to use our public posts to train its AI. Helene Reiner and Dunja Hayali talk to Katja Muñoz.
May 28, 2025 | 46:45 min
Judge James Boasberg emphasized that the FTC must, among other things, prove that Meta currently holds a monopoly position in the market. The authorities failed to do this. It could take years before the case is finally resolved if the government appeals the decision.
Instagram brings important sales to Meta
Still under the name Facebook, this company bought Instagram in 2012 for around $1 billion and WhatsApp in 2014 for around $22 billion. Instagram in particular is now an important source of income for Meta. US competition authorities had approved the takeover at that time.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2020 at the end of US President Donald Trump’s first term in office. At the time, observers also saw it as a means of political pressure.
Among other things, Trump and his supporters were dissatisfied with the way Meta took action on its platform against false and misleading information – such as the president’s claim that his election victory was stolen from him through fraud.
Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, wants to use users’ images and posts to train its own artificial intelligence.
May 7, 2025 | 1:32 min
Test the strength of the cartel guards
The trial is seen as a test of the strength of antitrust watchdogs in Trump’s second term. The FTC competition authority initially filed its lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg’s company in 2020, during Trump’s first term.
However, Boasberg explained that the FTC erred in not taking competitors like video platforms TikTok and YouTube into account in its market analysis. The lawsuit is part of a broader crackdown by US authorities against the market power of big technology companies. Legal proceedings are also underway against Google parent Alphabet, Apple and Amazon.
Source: dpa, AP, AFP, Reuters
