Meta Asks Judge To Block FTC Suit On Within Acquisition

Meta has asked a judge to turn down a U.S. Federal Trade Commission attempt to block the company’s acquisition of Within Unlimited, a virtual reality app, saying concerns about competitions are only speculative, Bloomberg wrote.

Meta has said the FTC hasn’t laid out the details that show the deal would cut down on competition in the burgeoning VR fitness space.

The FTC has recently amended its complaint, dropping allegations that Meta’s Beat Saber virtual reality game would compete with Within’s Supernatural fitness app. Supernatural is a subscription service letting users work out or meditate to music in immersive environments.

The FTC has now said Beat Saber is an “incidental fitness app” and said Meta will probably make its own dedicated fitness app to compete with Within.

Virtual reality has been a focus for Meta, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg betting that people will want to spend time in virtual reality in a “metaverse.”

The FTC alleges that Meta would kill future competition in a new market, though a suit on these grounds is rare – it’s often difficult to prove a deal would suppress a newer industry’s potential for competition.

Meta has also featured Within’s Supernatural several times during its annual product conference on Monday (Oct. 10), and has made some announcements on its behalf.

Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, has said the agency will need more resources to work on antitrust issues, though not everyone on a Senate committee she was presenting for was convinced.

Read more: FTC Chair Says Agency Needs More Resources for Antitrust Enforcement

Khan said there was a need for “vigorous” antitrust enforcement, to help the economy continue to grow.

But two FTC commissioners, Christine S. Wilson and Noah Joshua Phillips, have said they agree with the other three commissioners on some points, but not all of it, saying that the FTC has been taking fewer actions now than it was during the last administration.

They said the FTC’s statements about the labor markets and economy consolidating, data has not born that out.

“We regret that, today, the commission is not speaking with one voice in its written testimony for an oversight hearing,” they said in the statement. “This is an unfortunate departure from the agency’s tradition of working toward bipartisan consensus, and we are disappointed that our colleagues declined the opportunity.”