Trustbusters’ metaverse gambit | Reuters

NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the only one making risky gambits in the metaverse. On Friday, trustbusters at the Federal Trade Commission pared back their arguments against Meta Platforms’ (META.O) acquisition of virtual reality app maker Within. But even on the remaining, simplified claims, the FTC has a difficult needle to thread.

The agency run by Lina Khan stepped back from initial arguments that Meta’s Beat Saber game competes directly against Within’s Supernatural fitness app. That was always an odd stretching of definitions that both limited the market to a thin slice of virtual reality and at the same time included wildly disparate apps.

Now the FTC is claiming that the deal is anticompetitive because it eliminates the effect of future competition that Meta would introduce were it forced to develop, instead of acquire, its own fitness products. That resembles arguments against the 2015 merger of sterilization companies Steris and Synergy – a case the FTC lost.

It’s also an uncomfortable about-face for enforcers. Typically, merging parties claim a hypothetical new entrant could shake things up. The FTC’s expansive antitrust push under Khan already faced challenges. Adopting arguments usually deployed by its foes could risk further blowback. (By Jonathan Guilford)

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Editing by Lauren Silva Laughlin and Amanda Gomez

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