After FTC’s antitrust suit filed against Meta cleared a pressing hurdle earlier this week, the agency is now taking interest in Meta’s VR business for antitrust violations. According to reports, the FTC and multiple state attorneys general are investigating Meta’s virtual reality unit for “potential anti-competitive practices.”
Antitrust Violations Lawsuit Filed Against Meta’s VR Business
Furthermore, New York reportedly heads the state-level investigation for antitrust violations, which has been chatting up outside software developers who make applications for Meta’s VR business. The state and federal officials are investigating how the firm may have committed an anti-competitive behavior to suppress competition in the VR market.
Read more: Mozilla’s New Project to Study About Meta’s Tracking And Data Collection Practices
Furthermore, the FTC officials were also curious about how Meta’s VR business subsidizes the cost of its Quest 2 VR headset to push it on customers and box out the competition. The fact that the FTC is digging around about Meta’s app store, hardware and software approaches indicates that the firm’s investments aren’t its only angle in what could be a landmark antitrust case that illustrates the next era of internet enterprises.
Meta Acquired a VR Fitness App for More Than $400 Million
Back in December, the FTC was looking into Meta’s suggested acquisition of Supernatural, a VR fitness app, in a contract worth more than $400 million. In that antitrust violation’s lawsuit against Meta’s VR business, the FTC charges Facebook with abusing its market dominance to suppress competitors in the social media space and goes as far as requesting a judge to make parent firm Meta divest itself of Instagram and WhatsApp.
“The facts alleged this time around to fortify those theories, however, are far more robust and detailed than before, particularly in regard to the contours of Defendant’s alleged monopoly,” U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote during the hearing of the lawsuit against Meta’s VR business. “… Although the agency may well face a tall task down the road in proving its allegations, the Court believes that it has now cleared the pleading bar and may proceed to discovery.”
Source: TechCrunch
