Meta Platforms had asked the Federal Trade Commission to remove Mark Zuckerberg from a lawsuit filed to block it from buying Within Unlimited.
Photo:
Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
The Federal Trade Commission said it would drop
Mark Zuckerberg
from a lawsuit filed last month seeking to block
Meta Platforms Inc.
from buying a small virtual-reality company.
In return, the Meta chief executive agreed not to purchase the startup, Within Unlimited Inc., and its fitness app called Supernatural, in his personal capacity or through any other entities he controls, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
Last month, the federal agency said that Meta, the parent company to social-media apps including Facebook and Instagram, is already a key player at every level of the virtual-reality sector as it seeks to build out the so-called metaverse.
The FTC alleges that Meta and Mr. Zuckerberg are nonetheless trying to expand the company’s virtual-reality empire by buying the fitness app, a move that they say violates antitrust laws and lessens competition.
Meta had asked the agency to remove Mr. Zuckerberg from the lawsuit.
Last fall, then-Facebook renamed itself Meta as part of a rebranding effort to focus on the metaverse, an online realm where people can hangout as avatars, often through the use of virtual-reality headsets.
Meta declined to comment. The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meta previously said the FTC was “sending a chilling message” to those that want to innovate in the virtual-reality space.
“Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top,” John Newman, deputy director of the FTC’s bureau of competition, said when the lawsuit was filed in July. He added that Meta already owns a bestselling virtual reality fitness app. It also owns the top-selling VR device and a leading app store and has seven of the most successful developers.
Meta and Within announced the acquisition in October 2021. The terms weren’t released.
Write to Meghan Bobrowsky at Meghan.Bobrowsky@wsj.com
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Appeared in the August 24, 2022, print edition as ‘Zuckerberg Dropped From Lawsuit.’
