FTC investigates acquisition of VR Supernatural fitness app by Meta

Recently, the Meta company acquired the VR fitness app. This new acquisition prompted the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to open an investigation. Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission of the United States recently began to deepen its investigation into the partnership of the company Meta and the developer of the application Supernatural because a source claims that the agreement is worth 400 million dollars, of which arouse the suspicions of the authorities.

Authorities suspect Meta of wanting to monopolize several sectors

The fitness application is based on virtual reality and, in his last press release, the founder of Meta said he wanted to create a closer relationship between users, in particular by creating the hologram avatar. This takeover thus further extends Meta’s influence, but it allows it to protect its investments in the video game market.

For this year, the deal with start-up Within would be Meta’s sixth in 2021 and according to Pitchbook, it would be its fifth VR acquisition in the past three years. In addition, we noticed that the company tries to acquire almost all the other platforms in order to have exclusivity. But let’s not forget that Meta had already been in trouble with the law when acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram because it flirted with the monopoly. Moreover, until now, the authorities are trying to find tangible evidence to prove this desire to monopolize Meta through its startup buyouts.

Will the FTC be able to stop this growth of Meta?

At this time, there is no law in the United States that prevents a large company from covering multiple markets. However, the authorities consider it illegal to kill other competing firms. Plus, this isn’t the first time the FTC has sued Meta, when it was still called Facebook. Around 2012, she had already launched a lawsuit against the firm for the acquisition of Instagram for a figure of 1 billion dollars and in 2014 for WhatsApp with 19 billion dollars. Indeed, to ward off the competition, Facebook bought out potential competitors, a tactic that puts several platforms in the market at risk.

On the other hand, the acquisition of the fitness application just allows Meta to strengthen its position and this puts the FTC in a dead end, because it is normal that in view of the evolution of technology the firm must evolve. and stand out.

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