The Trump administration will take on Meta, the social media giant that owns Facebook and Instagram, in court starting Monday, in a case that could exist as a key first test for President Trump’s anti-trust team.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeks to prove that Meta has dominated social networking through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
“This is not only the first test of the current administration, but also the test of what began at the end of the last Trump administration,” said Paul Swanson, who leads antitrust and competitive practices at law firm Holland & Hart.
“This is part of the Trump 1.0-to-Trump 2.0 through line. The administration will continue its course to challenge the power of big technology, he added.
In the final months of the first Trump administration, then called Facebook, the FTC sued the meta called Facebook, and accused them of strategically seeking to eliminate competition through major acquisitions through major acquisitions through Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
After the lawsuit was first dismissed in 2021, the agency was allowed to amend the complaint, and the judge ruled in November that Meta had to face trial.
The trial is expected to be extended several weeks from E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, D.C., with US District Judge James Boasberg taking court dates until early July.
The FTC claims that by eliminating competition through acquisitions, Meta enjoys significant benefits while the consumer experience is struggling.
After first attempts when Instagram and WhatsApp became prominent in the early 2010s, Meta ultimately bought the platform for $1 billion and $19 billion, respectively.
“For over a decade, Meta has dominated personal social networking (‘PSN’) services in the United States,” the FTC wrote in a pretrial summary filed Thursday.
“Instead of compensating for rivals regarding the merits of PSN (Facebook), Meta chose to protect its position through anti-competitive means. He chose to acquire the important threats he identified on Instagram and WhatsApp,” he continued.
However, Meta argues that FTC faces competition from other social media companies that it does not consider as part of the personal social networking market.
“The FTC’s lawsuit against Meta is against reality,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “The evidence at the trial shows that every 17-year-old person around the world knows. Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with China-owned Tiktok, YouTube, X, Imessage and more.”
It also emphasizes that both Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions are approved by the agency, claiming that they “send a message that the transaction is not truly final.”
“Regulators should help American innovation rather than disbanding great American companies and benefiting China further on serious issues like AI,” the spokesman added.
The trial is a very “high stakes” for Meta and could face a breakup if it loses, former FTC commissioner William Kovasic told Hill.
“If Meta loses here, there’s a real possibility that they’ll be forced to demolish the company that started construction about 10 years ago when they bought these companies,” Kovacic says.
The lawsuit raises its own questions with the federal government and tests the limitations of today’s antitrust enforcement.
“This is a test of whether antitrust enforcement agencies still have the power to dissolve such Old Testament justice, the power to dissolve large corporations,” Swanson said.
“The question is, is antitrust law still giving executives such power in the context of these much more static, much more fluid dynamic markets?” he added.
The future of the case has been airing over recent weeks as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly lobbying Trump and White House officials to agree to a settlement before trial.
Faced with Trump’s rage after Meta banned the president from the platform in the wake of the January 6, 2021 riot, Zuckerberg attempted to repair his ties with Trump since the election, donating to his inauguration fund, turning the company’s approach into content moderation.
In January, Meta announced it would eliminate third-party fact-checking programs in favor of community-based programs similar to the “Community Note” system used by social platform X.
The tech giant also planned to cut its staff in January to reduce diversity, equity and inclusive teams and associated programs, and to work with the Trump administration’s opposition to diversity efforts.
Former FTC Chair Lina Khan suggested that at the time, other major tech companies facing meta and antitrust laws may be looking for a “lovey deal” from the Trump administration.
“It’s true that the FTC has been extremely successful, including ongoing litigation against Amazon and Facebook. So it’s no surprise that those companies want to come and see.
“Can they get some sort of settlement that can settle on pennies in dollars and escape from finding responsibility in court?” she continued.
Throughout the first Trump and Biden administration, anti-trust authorities filed lawsuits against several tech giants, including Google, Amazon and Apple.
The Justice Department, which handles antitrust enforcement, also won a groundbreaking antitrust lawsuit against Google in August, with the judge determined that the company was illegally maintaining its monopoly on online searches.
As Zuckerberg put pressure on Trump to resolve the case, newly appointed FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson stressed last week that he would not be able to signal such an outcome while following the president’s orders.
“I think it’s important for me to follow legal orders,” he told Verge. “I think the President realizes we have to enforce the law, so if that happens, I would be very surprised.”
But Ferguson’s respect for the White House becomes a key moment. Because Trump tried to assert his control over an independent institution like the FTC.
Last month, Trump fired FTC Democrats Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.
The FTC’s top officials have been considered protected from presidential removal under the 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent. But the Trump administration appears to be poised to challenge this long-resolved case law.
Kovasic noted that if the White House finally intervened in the FTC on behalf of Zuckerberg, it represented a major policy change.
“The way that’s resolved is not just antitrust laws, but a major test of the bigger approach the Trump administration takes to technology and the business community,” he said.
“You’ll say the path to success is through the White House,” he added. “And once one company makes the journey successful, many others follow. You’ll see a double line into the Atlantic.”
