The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has closed its antitrust complaint against Meta Platforms

 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has closed its antitrust complaint against Meta Platforms over its acquisition of virtual-reality startup Within Unlimited, after deciding not to appeal a US District Judge's ruling in favor of Meta. The FTC had sued to block the deal last year, filing twin complaints in federal court and its in-house court. However, in December 2021, the judge found in favor of Meta, ruling that the FTC had not presented sufficient evidence to prove that the acquisition would harm competition in the nascent virtual-reality industry.

Although the judge's ruling allowed Meta to close the deal on February 10, the FTC could have continued its case in administrative court and sought to unwind the transaction. But on Friday, the FTC voted to withdraw the complaint and end the case. This represents a major loss for FTC Chair Lina Khan, who has taken a more aggressive approach to mergers than her predecessors and stepped up the agency's focus on technology giants because of their potential to quickly dominate budding markets.

However, the FTC maintains that it was not a complete loss, as the judge's decision recognized the agency's theory that mergers that don't immediately hurt competition but have the potential to do so in the future should be blocked. The FTC has also challenged Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard on similar grounds - that allowing the acquisition would give the dominant platform a leg up in the emerging cloud-gaming market.