The judge dismissed the federal lawsuit against the state and the monopoly against Facebook for Business and Economic News

A judge has said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has not fulfilled its burden of establishing that Facebook has a monopoly on social media.

Facebook Inc. the company won two cases of antitrust filed by the federal government and a state coalition when a judge dismissed the lawsuits. Shares of the social media platform went up.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington on Monday granted Facebook’s request to cancel the lawsuit, filed last year by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the state attorney general led by New York’s Letitia James.

The judge said in his opinion that the FTC had not fulfilled the burden of establishing that Facebook has a monopoly on social media. The agency said it could re-file the complaint within 30 days.

“While the court disagrees with everything mentioned here on Facebook, it ultimately accepts that the agency’s complaint is not legally sufficient and should therefore be dismissed,” Boasberg wrote.

Shares of Facebook rose 4.4% in New York after the resolution.

With the resolution, Facebook has escaped – at least for now – the most important regulatory threat to its business from a broad crackdown on U.S. tech giants.

The decision dealt a blow to the FTC and states, saying Facebook violated antitrust laws by buying an Instagram sharing app and buying a WhatsApp messaging service to cut emerging competition threats and protect its monopoly.

It highlights the antitrust legislation that the Justice Commission has advanced over the past week, which would make it easier for executives to challenge anti-competitive behavior by major technology platforms.

Antitrust barriers

Boasberg’s decision to throw out Facebook’s complaints reveals the obstacles that anti-US monopoly enforcers are trying to take over the internet giants. Officials cannot break up companies or implement other solutions on their own, but they must convince judges to take action. The process can take years.

Facebook lawsuits were filed in December against crackdowns on America’s tech giants. The cases were filed by the Justice Department against Alphabet Inc. for allegedly monopolizing Internet search, and the tech companies were accused of abusing their dominance as a result of a House investigation. MPs have since proposed a stack of bills that would create an extensive regulatory network in addition to companies.

The lawsuits on Facebook focused on buying Instagram in 2012 and buying WhatsApp in 2014. Officials say Facebook made the deals because it saw the two companies as a threat to its business. Rather than compete with its products, Facebook followed the mantra of CEO Mark Zuckerberg: “It’s better to buy than to compete,” according to the FTC complaint.

Facebook offered $ 1 billion to Instagram when it had only 25 million users and no revenue, but it was already starting to capture the market for mobile photo sharing. Zuckerberg said the Instagram threat is “really scary,” according to the FTC complaint. The company paid $ 19 billion for WhatsApp because it saw messaging apps as another risk to its business. A Facebook executive said the app could be “the biggest threat we’ve had as a business,” the FTC’s complaint said.

Facebook attacked the allegations for a variety of reasons. One of his key arguments was when it was announced that the FTC was investigating two purchases and allowing the two deals to go ahead. While antitrust executives may sue for completed mergers, Facebook has argued that the FTC’s case is unprecedented and that the agency has never explained why previous decisions approving the purchases were wrong. Facebook says the government wants a “do-over”.

The company also argued that a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in April reduced the FTC’s ability to recover money for consumers who had been defrauded by the FTC.

Case Federal Trade Commission Vs. Facebook Inc. It is 20-cv-3590, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).