According to the report, the lawyer of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that the agency will continue to advance the personal investigation of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the lawsuit of the FTC internal court, an allegation related to Meta’s acquisition of a virtual reality software maker.
Previously, the FTC sued Meta and Zuckerberg at the FTC internal court, requiring Meta to obtain approval from the FTC for any future M&A transactions. The internal court proceedings are scheduled to be formally heard on January 19 next year.
JOIN XIAOMI ON TELEGRAM
In July of this year, the FTC formally sued Meta and Zuckerberg on the grounds that the defendants planned to acquire the virtual reality software maker “With Unlimited” without the FTC’s permission. The acquired company is the developer of the popular virtual reality fitness software “Supernatural”.
The FTC lawsuit is taking a two-pronged approach. The agency also filed a complaint with the FTC’s internal court and a federal district court in California. In December, a federal district court in California will hold a six-day court hearing to decide whether to support Meta’s move forward with the deal. At the same time, the FTC is also moving forward with an internal court case.
In an internal court hearing on Friday, FTC attorney Abby Dennis said the FTC has made a decision not to target Zuckerberg himself in the federal district court proceedings, but in the internal court proceedings, The individual charges against Zuckerberg will still be advanced as the FTC seeks a broader legal redress package.
The lawsuit in the internal court may prevent Meta from acquiring Within. In addition, when Meta conducts any form of merger or acquisition in the future, it first needs to notify the FTC and obtain the agency’s prior approval.
Under existing U.S. acquisition transaction regulation laws, Meta needs to notify the Federal Trade Commission and another antitrust “sister agency”—the U.S. Department of Justice— only when the acquisition amount reaches or exceeds $101 million.
In response to the FTC’s claims, a Meta spokesman said the FTC’s baseless allegations are based entirely on subjective ideas and are out of touch with commercial reality. Meta will continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests, and the company believes that all evidence will prove that Meta’s acquisition of within is good for the public, good for developers, and good for the entire virtual reality market.
Previously, a large number of mergers and acquisitions by Meta’s predecessor, Facebook, attracted the attention of the US government. In 2020, an investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives found that Facebook Inc. acquired about 100 companies in the decade of the 2010s, of which only one M&A deal was submitted to the FTC for in-depth review.
As an antitrust regulator, the FTC also investigated the mergers and acquisitions of tech giants and found that Meta and the other four big tech companies had conducted more than 800 acquisitions and investment transactions that did not require regulatory review.
Meta’s lawyer, Mark Hansen, said that in future lawsuits in the FTC’s internal court, Meta hopes to drop the individual charges against Zuckerberg. In addition, Meta refuses to reach a settlement agreement with the FTC on this lawsuit.”We believe that this acquisition of Winthin should be approved and should go ahead,” Hansen said.
