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FTC’s Andrew Ferguson’s comments indicate they are confident to win the case against Meta’s acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram, however, odds seems not to be in their favor
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In an interview with Bloomberg, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson said they are gearing up for a trial to break up Meta Platforms, that has been scheduled for next month.
“We’ve got some of the FTC’s best lawyers on it and we’re getting ready to go,” Ferguson said (min 0:16-2.01).
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He said he’s aiming to create certainty, which was lacking in the Biden administration, adding that if they think there are problems, they will go to court, but if they don’t think there are problems, they will get out of the way (min 2:56 and min 5:30).
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Ferguson said they don’t want to create conditions in the US that suppress innovation like Europe does, but pointed out that monopoly stifles innovation (min 4.01).
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He added that they have enough resources to litigate the cases (min 8:19)
“We don’t have resource constraints. I’ve said from day one, we’ve got the resources to litigate these cases”. he said. That remains true. Our budget is less than half a billion dollars. We’ve only got around 1300 employees and we deliver a lot of value for the American people."
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Last week, a FTC lawyer asked the court to delay Amazon trial over “dire resource” situation. However, he later claimed that he was wrong, that the FTC does not have resource constraints.
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In his ruling, allowing the course to go to trial, Judge James Boasberg said that it was hard to tell if the FTC’s claims will hold up.
“The Commission faces hard questions about whether its claims can hold up in the crucible of trial. Indeed, its positions at times strain this country’s creaking antitrust precedents to their limits,” the judge said.
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Joseph V. Coniglio, the director of antitrust and innovation, notes that Judge Boasberg’s opinion “gives many indications as to why the FTC’s case is likely doomed”.
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In October 2024, President Trump expressed skepticism over the potential breakup of Google.
“If you do that, are you going to destroy the company? What you can do without breaking it up is make sure it’s more fair,” he said.
Assessment
Ferguson’s comments suggest that he’s confident that they will win the case against Meta. However, considering that Meta can appeal the case and even take it up to the Supreme Court and reports of resource constraints, the process will be a hurdle for them. Judge Boasberg’s comments also indicate that the odds aren’t fully in FTC’s favor. Even if they have good arguments, Zuckerberg’s new found relationship with Trump and Trump’s opinions on breakup of Big Tech are likely to help prevent the breakup of Meta Platforms. FTC going hard on Big Tech will also contradict Trump’s comments against EU regulations on US tech companies. In my opinion, Trump could stifle the cases against Big tech through DOGE cuts.