Judge dismisses antitrust complaint, Facebook’s market value exceeds $1 trillion Reuters

Authors: Diane Bartz and Elizabeth Califord

Washington (Reuters)-On Monday, a U.S. judge dismissed federal and state antitrust complaints Facebook (Nasdaq:) Attempt to force the social media company to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, saying that the federal complaint was “not legally enough.”

After the ruling was announced, Facebook’s stock price rose more than 4%. The rise in stock prices made Facebook’s market capitalization exceed $1 trillion for the first time.

The dismissal is the first major blow to the state and federal lawsuits against large technology companies last year that are trying to control alleged abuse of their massive market power.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg for the District of Columbia stated that the FTC had failed to prove that Facebook had a monopoly on the social network market, but said that the FTC could file a new complaint before July 29.

He also dismissed lawsuits in multiple states in the United States, saying that they waited too long to challenge the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The judge did not invite the states to file a new appeal.

A spokesperson for the New York attorney general’s office said that it is “considering our legal options.”

Facebook has requested the dismissal of these lawsuits.

Regarding the FTC lawsuit, the judge wrote: “Although the court disagrees with all the arguments made by Facebook here, it ultimately agrees that the agency’s complaint is legally inadequate and must be rejected.”

A Facebook spokesperson said: “We are very pleased that today’s decision recognizes that the government’s complaint against Facebook is flawed.” An FTC spokesperson said that the agency is “closely reviewing opinions and evaluating the best options for the future.”

One of the highlights of the FTC’s opinion was that the judge said that the agency “has a firmer stance in reviewing the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp because the court rejected Facebook’s argument that the FTC has no right to seek injunctive relief against these purchases.”

The US Federal Trade Commission and a large group of states filed separate lawsuits last year, accusing Facebook of violating antitrust laws and blocking smaller competitors by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp for US$1 billion to acquire competitors for US$19 billion.

Judge found flaw in market share claim

Last year, the federal government and the states filed five lawsuits against Facebook and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc’s Google after the two parties were angry about the economic and political influence of social media.

The judge said that the FTC did not fully support its claim that Facebook has more than 60% market share. But Boasberg said the agency may resolve this issue by re-filing.

The judge also criticized part of the FTC case, namely its refusal to allow interoperability licenses with competing applications.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley criticized the court’s decision on the FTC lawsuit as “deeply disappointing.”