Facebook Survives Major Lawsuit That Could Have Broken Up Its Empire

Unsurprisingly, the court’s decision moved the markets. The price of Facebook’s shares rose by over 4% after the ruling, pushing the company’s total value over US$1 trillion (~RM4.15 trillion) for the first time, Reuters reported. The judge who presided over the case ruled that the FTC failed to prove that Facebook had monopoly power in the US social networking market. He further dismissed a lawsuit initiated by many US states because they took too long to challenge the company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) June 28, 2021 “We are pleased that today’s decisions recognise the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook,” said a Facebook spokesperson. The FTC, which enforces US antitrust law, and a large group of US states sued Facebook last year for stifling market competition by acquiring its rivals like Instagram and WhatsApp. (Source: Reuters.)