TPA Responds to FTC’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against Meta

For Immediate Release                                                                             Contact: Abigail Graham: (202) 417-7235

July 27, 2022                                                                                                                  

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Meta to block the acquisition of Within Unlimited. In response, TPA Executive Director, Patrick Hedger, offered the following statement:

“The FTC’s suit against Meta’s acquisition of Within shows the perils of the current trends in antitrust law. Virtual reality fitness is one of the most laughably narrow market definitions one could imagine to cook up a ‘monopolization’ complaint. FTC’s case rests on Meta owning another property that is not even a fitness-specific application. This all makes clear that this case is nothing more than a vindictive goose chase designed to harass and drain resources from a politically-disfavored company, a company FTC happens to already be suing on other, shaky antitrust grounds.

“Detaching antitrust from the objective standard that is the consumer welfare standard will only invite more abuse from activist bureaucrats like FTC Chair Lina Khan. Congress should abandon efforts to weaponize antitrust law and instead codify the consumer welfare standard to prevent this anti-market, anti-innovation nonsense.”

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 Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy.