Restoring America

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When will the FTC finally quit its antitrust crusade?

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Meta scored a major victory last month when a federal judge ruled that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp do not violate U.S. antitrust laws, a significant setback for the Federal Trade Commission and its former chairwoman, Lina Khan. By my count, that brings her misguided antitrust agenda’s record to 0-5, which isn’t surprising given her lack of a solid legal foundation.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg dismissed the FTC’s claim that Meta illegally monopolized “personal social networking services,” writing that the agency failed to show the company holds monopoly power today. “With apps surging and receding … the FTC has understandably struggled to fix the boundaries of Meta’s product market,” he wrote. Regardless of Meta’s past position, he said, the FTC did not prove it still dominates the market now.

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