The Biden Administration may be in its waning days, but its crusade against Big Tech monopolies isn't slowing down.

This week, a judge in Washington ruled that Meta must face trial over an FTC lawsuit charging the social media behemoth with attempting to crush emerging competition by acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram. "Meta, then known as Facebook, overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate nascent threats instead of competing on its own in the mobile ecosystem," the FTC alleges, reports Reuters.

Meta tried to dismiss the suit back in 2020 (during the Trump Administration), but District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg largely denied the motion by agreeing that Meta acted illegally.

“In the end, while the parties’ legal jousting is both impressive and comprehensive, it leaves no clear victor. This case must go to trial. Under the forgiving summary-judgment standard, the FTC has put forward evidence sufficient for a reasonable factfinder to rule in its favor,” Boasberg wrote in a 92-page opinion, notes The Hill.

For its part, Meta remains “confident that the evidence at trial will show that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have been good for competition and consumers,” says a statement by the tech titan. “More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared these deals, and despite the overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage, and many others, the Commission is wrongly continuing to assert that no deal is ever truly final, and businesses can be punished for innovating.”

But the FTC sees its case as representing "a bipartisan effort to curtail Meta’s monopoly power and restore competition to ensure freedom and innovation in the social media ecosystem,” commission spokesperson Doug Farrar said, notes Law.com.

Monopoly Cases

Beyond Meta's case, where do the remaining FTC monopoly cases currently stand?

An inventory by the New York Times catalogs them:

A case against Amazon by the FTC and 17 states for "squeezing sellers" on its marketplace to create "artificially higher prices” goes to trial in October 2026.

A suit by the DOJ and 15 states against Apple charges the iPhone maker with market manipulation in the smartphone sector. The Cupertino-based hardware giant has filed to dismiss the case.

A federal judge ruled recently against Google for holding a monopoly in online search. The judge's decision on how to penalize the company is still pending.

Verdict

What makes this case so interesting is that it’s effectively a bipartisan case. It was started under the Trump administration’s DOJ, mostly hung in limbo during the Biden years, and now may continue under a renewed Trump term. Of course, Trump’s position on Silicon Valley has changed drastically in the intervening 4 years.

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