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Meta antitrust trial kicks off in federal court

(www.axios.com)
431 points c420 | 1 comments | 14 Apr 25 13:18 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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iambateman ◴[14 Apr 25 19:45 UTC] No.43685448[source]▶
> Meta could have chosen to compete with then-upstart photo sharing app Instagram in 2012, a senior FTC official said on a call with reporters ahead of the trial, but instead it bought it, and did the same with WhatsApp.

This has a potentially very-chilling effect on acquisitions, which are a major source of liquidity for lots of secondary companies.

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dehrmann ◴[14 Apr 25 20:51 UTC] No.43686189[source]▶
It's actually worse that that. Making acquisitions hard is one thing; changing the rules post hoc is another.
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1. arrosenberg ◴[14 Apr 25 21:01 UTC] No.43686298[source]▶
Antitrust law explicitly allows the government to unwind acquisitions if they are later determined to be anticompetitive. How else would you deal with a company like Meta who has done exactly that?