{"id":17074,"date":"2026-01-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/ftc-announces-appeal-in-meta-antitrust-case\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:00:00","slug":"ftc-announces-appeal-in-meta-antitrust-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/ftc-announces-appeal-in-meta-antitrust-case\/","title":{"rendered":"#\n                FTC Announces Appeal in Meta Antitrust Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/ftc-announces-appeal-in-meta-antitrust-case\/#FTC_Announces_Appeal_in_Meta_Antitrust_Case\" >FTC Announces Appeal in Meta Antitrust Case<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FTC_Announces_Appeal_in_Meta_Antitrust_Case\"><\/span>\n                FTC Announces Appeal in Meta Antitrust Case<br \/>\n            <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">4 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/810059\/2026-01-21_08.55.28\/ftc-announces-appeal-in-meta-antitrust-case.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Despite a federal judge ruling against the FTC in its long-running antitrust case against Meta back in November, the FTC has today <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2026\/01\/ftc-appeals-ruling-meta-monopolization-case?utm_campaign=ftc_appeals_ruling_in_met&amp;utm_content=1768942840&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook,linkedin,twitter\" style=\"color:#0563c1\">announced<\/a> that it\u2019s appealing the ruling, which will force Meta back to court once again, and drag the case into its fifth year of litigation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>And based on all the evidence thus far, there\u2019s nothing to suggest that the FTC will get any closer to winning over the court this time. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The case was initially launched back in 2020, when the FTC alleged that Meta had built a social networking monopoly \u201cthrough a years-long course of anticompetitive conduct\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>The suit specifically focuses on the company\u2019s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and alleges that Meta acquired both to \u201cneutralize its competition.\u201d Which, according to the FTC, is in violation of antitrust law, and as a result, the FTC has called for Meta to be forced to sell off both apps, in order to address this market imbalance. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Which, at least at one time, was a serious threat, so serious, in fact, that Meta initiated a program that would meld its messaging systems together across all of its apps, in order to make it impossible for it to divest IG and WhatsApp, as it would all be built into its singular core business. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Meta has seemingly abandoned that push of late, likely because it saw that the case would go in its favor, while over time, the FTC\u2019s push has also become more outdated, and more difficult to argue, because competitors like TikTok have been able to rise, despite Meta\u2019s market dominance, and take a significant chunk of the digital ad sector. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Which proves that Meta doesn\u2019t have a monopoly, and in fact, the very existence of TikTok has ushered in a new era of prosperity for Meta, with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/20\/most-of-instagrams-ads-ran-on-reels-in-2025-data-shows.html\" style=\"color:#0563c1\">more than 50% of Instagram ads now being run within Reels<\/a>, the feature that it replicated from TikTok. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>As such, the evidence shows that true competition is not only possible in the sector, but also beneficial for the broader market. Which belies the FTC case that Meta has bought its way to total dominance, but clearly, it still thinks it has a case, which it\u2019s going to re-state again in the appeals court.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>As per the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2026\/01\/ftc-appeals-ruling-meta-monopolization-case?utm_campaign=ftc_appeals_ruling_in_met&amp;utm_content=1768942840&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook,linkedin,twitter\" style=\"color:#0563c1\">FTC<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><em><span><span>\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/em><em><span><span><span><span>The U.S. economy thrives when competition can flourish and U.S. businesses compete fairly against one another. Yet Meta has maintained its dominant position and record profits for well over a decade not through legitimate competition, but by buying its most significant competitive threats. The Trump-Vance FTC will continue fighting its historic case against Meta to ensure that competition can thrive across the country to the benefit of all Americans and U.S. businesses.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>I\u2019m tipping that Zuck put in a call to his pal Trump as soon as this announcement dropped.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Because Meta has been working to better ingratiate itself with the Trump Administration in order to avoid entanglements just like this. Meta needs the path cleared for AI development, which <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ai.gov\/action-plan\" style=\"color:#0563c1\">the U.S. government has taken action on<\/a>, but it\u2019s also hoping for help in avoiding local regulation, as well as ongoing penalties overseas. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>The more cosy that Zuckerberg can get with Trump, the better off his business will be in the current era of shifting regulations. And this is just one example of how Meta needs to cooperate with the government to maximize its opportunities.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>I mean, in this instance, I don\u2019t think Meta will need to lean on Trump\u2019s help, as it\u2019s hard to see the FTC putting forward a case which suggests that its rivals can\u2019t compete, as TikTok has <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.warc.com\/content\/paywall\/article\/warc-curated-datapoints\/11bn-in-us-ad-revenue-up-for-grabs-if-the-tiktok-ban-is-implemented\/\" style=\"color:#0563c1\">built an $11 billion local business<\/a> in the time since the commission first launched this push. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>But maybe there\u2019s something more, and either way, Meta will have to defend itself once again, and hope that the court sees it its way once more.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>In response, Meta spokesman Andy Stone has issued <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@andymstone\/post\/DTv4l3llM79\" style=\"color:#0563c1\">the following statement<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThe District Court\u2019s decision to reject the FTC&#8217;s arguments in this matter is correct &#8211; and it recognizes the fierce competition we face. Meta will remain focused on innovating and investing in America.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>If worse comes to worse, I suspect that the Trump Administration\u2019s fear of losing ground to China in the AI war will be enough to reduce any resulting penalties.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span> But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to get that far.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Social Media<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/news\/ftc-announces-appeal-in-meta-antitrust-case\/810059\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FTC Announces Appeal in Meta Antitrust Case Listen to the article 4 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Despite a federal judge ruling against the FTC in its long-running antitrust case against Meta back in November, the FTC has today announced that it\u2019s appealing the ruling, which will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/7C7vA1kc2lwUF7ZFt0EYpdWtJLKl_vxkdoqKJGS2hKw\/g:ce\/rs:fit:770:435\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9GVENfQmxkZ18zLmpwZw==.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1424,1448],"class_list":["post-17074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media","tag-facebook","tag-instagram"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}