The FTC cleared a critical hurdle in its antitrust suit against Meta earlier this week, and now the agency is interested in the company's virtual reality business.
The FTC and several state attorneys general are looking into Meta's virtual reality division for possible anti-competitive practices. New York leads the state-level investigation, which has been talking to outside software developers who make apps for Meta.
The company may have engaged in anti-competitive behavior to suppress competition in the market. The officials were interested in how the company subsidizes the price of its headset to push it on consumers and box out the competition.
The fact that the FTC is looking into Meta's app store, hardware and software practices suggests that the company's acquisitions aren't the only angle in what could be a landmark antitrust case that defines the next era of internet businesses.
The FTC was looking into Meta's proposed acquisition of Supernatural, a virtual reality fitness app, in a deal worth more than $400 million.
A judge ruled this week that the FTC could continue with its antitrust case against Facebook, throwing out the company's effort to block it. In December, Facebook asked the court to dismiss the suit, and pushed for FTC Chair Lina Khan to be removed from the case.
In that suit, the FTC accuses Facebook of abusing its market power to quell rivals in the social media space and goes as far as asking a judge to make parent company Meta sell its subsidiaries.
The facts alleged this time around to fortify those theories, however, are far more robust and detailed than before.
The agency may face a tall task in proving its allegations, but the Court believes that it has cleared the pleading bar and may proceed to discovery.
The new antitrust suit claims that Facebook killed the competition.
The UK class action against Meta is $3.1 billion.
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