December 9, 2022
In a San Jose, California courtroom, federal regulators from the FTC launched a campaign to block Facebook parent Meta’s acquisition of virtual-reality company Within Inc., claiming that it would harm competition and violate antitrust laws.
In July, the FTC filed a lawsuit to halt the transaction, claiming that Meta’s acquisition of Within would “tend to create a monopoly” in the market for virtual reality (VR) fitness apps. It has asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the proposed transaction from proceeding.
The FTC claims that if Meta had not acquired Within, it would have developed its own dedicated VR fitness up, entering this nascent market with its own product as a new competitor and Within would have remained an independent player in the market.
FTC lawyer Abby Dennis stated in her opening statement that the Within acquisition was part of Meta’s effort to acquire new and diverse virtual reality users, including customers of Within’s popular subscription-based virtual reality workout app Supernatural.
In their suit to prevent Meta Platforms Inc. from acquiring a virtual reality startup, US antitrust regulators are pursuing “an aggressive effort to make law with no real evidence,” according to the company’s lawyer.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
