Meta faces existential threat at FTC trial

REUTERS/ Francis Mascarenhas

Facebook parent Meta Platforms faces a high-stakes trial in D.C. set to start today on claims it built an illegal social media monopoly by spending billions of dollars to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp, in a case where U.S. antitrust enforcers seek to unwind the deals, Jody Godoy reports.

The FTC seeks to force Meta to restructure or sell parts of its business including Instagram and WhatsApp. It filed the case in 2020 during President Trump's first term. Mark Hansen of Kellogg Hansen is on the defense team for Meta, and the FTC trial group is led by Daniel Matheson.

The case poses an existential threat to Meta, which by some estimates earns about half of its U.S. advertising revenue from Instagram, while also giving the public its first real measure of how strongly the new Trump administration will follow up on its promises to take on Big Tech.

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The buzz

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that more than 60,000 ballots cast in November by voters in a close race for a seat on the state's high court could be counted, but it left open the possibility of discounting thousands of others.
A federal judge in Missouri declined a request that he withdraw from hearing a major antitrust lawsuit after disclosures showed lawyers in the case previously donated to political campaigns involving the judge’s wife.
The FTC took a step toward potentially reversing bans on certain oil executives joining the boards of Chevron and Exxon Mobil that the Biden administration made a condition to letting them acquire two other oil producers.

$8,903,324

That’s how much former Girardi Keese chief financial officer Christopher Kamon was ordered to pay in restitution, as part of his sentencing in a fraud case. U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton sentenced Kamon to more than 10 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars in client funds as part of his work at the firm led by disbarred California attorney Tom Girardi. Kamon pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in October.

"Your clients have done nothing to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia."

—U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, questioning the Trump administration’s response to her inquiry about what steps, if any, it had taken to return a man to the United States who had been wrongly deported to El Salvador. Xinis has directed the DOJ to update her daily on the U.S. efforts to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. In new filings, U.S. officials said they were not obligated to help the Maryland resident get out of prison in El Salvador.

Coming up this week

Today, Sarah Palin and the New York Times are expected to head to a courtroom where the former Alaska governor will try convincing a second jury the newspaper defamed her in an editorial about gun control. A retrial in Palin's nearly eight-year-old lawsuit is scheduled to begin in Manhattan federal court. Our colleague Jonathan Stempel has a look at the issues.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s bar against adults under 21 from obtaining a public-carry handgun license.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich will weigh a lawsuit that says the IRS should be barred from disclosing the names and addresses of taxpayers for purposes of aiding immigration enforcement.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in Minnesota will hold a status conference in consolidated lawsuits accusing UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare payment processing unit of failing to protect personal data.
On Friday, a man is scheduled to be sentenced for helping run a high-end brothel network in the Boston area and the suburbs of Washington that served politicians, corporate executives, lawyers and military officers. The case against Junmyung Lee is before U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.