Global Competition Review Names FTC v. Meta Behavioural Matter of the Year  

March 25, 2026

Analysis Group’s competition work in FTC v. Meta was recognized by Global Competition Review (GCR) during its annual GCR Awards. The firm congratulates affiliate Catherine Tucker and the Analysis Group team on their work on behalf of Meta in the matter, which was named “Behavioural matter of the year – Americas” during a ceremony on March 24 in Washington, DC.

“Behavioural matter of the year – Americas”: FTC v. Meta

In a landmark antitrust matter, Meta (then known as Facebook) successfully defended itself against claims by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it held a monopoly in the market for personal social networking (PSN) and that it maintained its dominant position by purchasing Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition in the PSN market, in violation of the Sherman Act.

An Analysis Group team led by Managing Principal Aaron Yeater and Vice President David Toniatti was retained on behalf of Meta and supported Catherine Tucker, who testified at deposition and trial. Professor Tucker opined that the success of Meta’s advertising business was due to innovation in ad quality rather than to an exercise of market power. Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia determined that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were not anticompetitive, giving Meta a complete victory. Judge Boasberg relied heavily on Professor Tucker’s trial testimony to support his finding that Meta’s advertising strategy was not evidence of anticompetitive conduct but, rather, of an improvement in advertising features and an increase in ad quality, setting a precedent for the evaluation of antitrust harm in markets with so-called “zero-price” products.