Photo: courtesy of Democracy Now!
A federal judge has thrown out two antitrust lawsuits seeking to force Facebook to divest from WhatsApp and Instagram. U.S. District Court Judge Jeb Boasberg — a George W. Bush appointee — ruled the Federal Trade Commission failed to provide enough evidence to make a case that Facebook operated a monopoly.
The judge gave the FTC 30 days to file an amended lawsuit. In a second ruling, Judge Boasberg threw out another antitrust suit brought by 46 state attorneys general, ruling they waited too long to bring their claims.
The court rulings sent Facebook’s share prices soaring, bringing CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s estimated personal wealth to over $128 billion, while Facebook’s market capitalization topped $1 trillion for the first time.
