The Federal Trade Commission will get a chance to make its case for a Meta split in court. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg allowed the FTC’s lawsuit against the social media giant to proceed (PDF link).

The FTC first sued Meta in 2020 to force the company, then known as Facebook, to divest itself of Instagram and WhatsApp. Along with dozens of attorneys general, the agency alleged that Meta acquired the platforms in 2012 and 2014 to stifle growing competition in the social media market.

Last April, Meta asked Judge Boasberg to dismiss the case. In addition to noting that the FTC had previously approved both acquisitions, Meta argued that the agency failed to show that the company had monopoly power in the social networking services market, and that it had harmed consumers by buying Instagram and WhatsApp.

Additionally, the company claimed it had invested billions of dollars in both platforms and made them better as a result, benefiting social media users everywhere. While he didn’t dismiss the lawsuit entirely, Boasberg forced the FTC to limit its case, dismissing the allegation that Facebook had provided preferential access to developers who agreed not to compete with it.

“We believe the evidence in the lawsuit will show that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have been good for competition and consumers.

More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and approved these deals, and despite overwhelming evidence that our services compete with YouTube, TikTok, X, Apple’s iMessage, and many others, the Commission continues to incorrectly claim that no deal is ever meant to be final, and that businesses can be penalized for innovating,” a Meta spokesperson told Engadget. “We will review the opinion when it is filed.”

Judge Boasberg will meet with both parties on November 25 and set a date for the trial. It should be noted that the FTC lawsuit was filed under the previous Trump administration, although whether it moves forward and in what form will depend on who President-elect Trump appoints to lead the agency.

Meta is continuing to make changes to its moderation and content rules. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri posted today that Instagram and Threads will begin including political content in recommendations.

This is a reversal from a policy adopted by both platforms last year, under which political content was something users had to choose whether or not to see. Now, Mosseri said there will be three levels of political content that Instagram and Threads users can choose to see: less, standard (which will be the default) and more.

“Drawing a red line around what is and is not political content has proven impractical,” Mosseri wrote. The change will begin rolling out in the US this week and to the rest of the world in the coming weeks.

The announcement is the latest in a series of changes being made by Meta that appear to be efforts to curry favor with President-elect Donald Trump. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would eliminate third-party fact-checkers in favor of a Community Notes model for Facebook, Instagram and Threads, mimicking the approach taken at X (formerly Twitter).

Nick Clegg has resigned as Meta’s head of global affairs and has been replaced by Joel Kaplan, who has good ties to Republicans in Washington DC.

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