The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Meta have wrapped up a six-week trial over the Facebook and Instagram parent’s alleged social networking monopoly, leaving the final decision in the hands of the judge.

The trial, which came to a close last week, seeks to determine whether Meta has a monopoly over personal social networking that the company entrenched with its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

Here’s what to know about the trial and what comes next:

Full-circle moment for Trump administration

The FTC’s trial with Meta represented a full-circle moment for the second Trump administration, after the agency originally brought the case at the tail end of President Trump’s first administration.

The agency sued Meta, then known as Facebook, in December 2020. The case came as part of a push by the Trump administration to take aim at major tech firms, following the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit against Google.

Big Tech scrutiny has been an area of rare continuity between both Trump administrations and the Biden administration.

Under former President Biden, the DOJ brought a second antitrust case against Google, as well as a lawsuit against Apple. The FTC also sued Amazon.

While Trump’s firing of two Democratic FTC commissioners has raised questions about his commitment to aggressive antitrust enforcement, the agency notably did not step away from the Meta trial in the face of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbying for a settlement.

Zuckerberg tries to settle, ends up on stand

The Meta CEO reportedly courted Trump and White House officials to settle the case in the weeks leading up to the trial.

Zuckerberg, who had a contentious relationship with the president in the wake of Meta’s decision to ban Trump from its platforms following the Jan. 6 riots, seemed eager to mend fences after........

© The Hill