Meta Platforms Inc. withheld information from federal regulators during their original reviews of the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said. Meta Platforms Inc. withheld information from federal regulators during their original reviews of the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a court filing as part of a lawsuit seeking to break up the social networking giant.
In its filing Tuesday, however, the FTC said the case involves “information Meta had in its files and did not provide” during the original reviews. “The evidence instead shows that Meta faces fierce competition and that Meta’s significant investment of time and resources in Instagram and WhatsApp has benefited consumers by making the apps into the services millions of users enjoy today for free,” spokesperson Chris Sgro said in a statement. “The FTC has done nothing to build its case over the past four years, while Meta has invested billions to build quality products.