Facebook parent Meta Platforms has moved for a judge to dismiss the US Federal Trade Commission’s case against it, arguing the regulator failed to prove its antitrust argument to the court, in a move intended to bring a swift end to the case in which the FTC has argued Meta dominates its segment of the social media market.

The company filed its motion on Friday evening after the FTC rested its case in federal court in Washington, DC.

“After five weeks of trial, it is clear that the FTC has failed to meet the legal standard required under antitrust law,” Meta said in a statement.

‘Weak case’

The company said it would nevertheless present its case to show that its offerings such as Instagram face intense competition from TikTok, YouTube, X and other social media apps.

“The FTC spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars bringing a weak case with a market definition that ignores reality,” the company stated.

Meta is asking for a judgement on partial findings, which would end the trial before it has presented its own evidence, ending the trial.

The company’s own arguments could run into June, followed by a decision, which could lead to a second remedies trial if the regulator is successful.

The FTC is arguing that Meta dominates the market for social media apps that allow users to share information with friends and family, such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook – the latter two being owned by Meta – in contrast to those such as TikTok or YouTube where the user is effectively broadcasting to a wide audience.

Saying Meta effectively has no real competition in this area of “personal social networking services”, the FTC says Meta acquired potential rivals such as WhatsApp and Instagram to ensure they could not become threats, and should be forced to divest the acquisitions.

Competition question

The FTC presented testimony from several people with high-profile connections to Meta, including Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom and its current head Adam Mosseri.

In its motion Meta said the FTC had failed to demonstrate that Meta reduced the quality of its services, a key sign of a lack of competition, or that it bought Instagram for anti-competitive purposes.

It said a broad range of social media apps pose a direct threat to its own services.

Companies such as TikTok all have the goal of creating content that will “take as much user time and attention as possible from the other apps, including Meta’s apps”, Meta said.