Meta battles U.S. antitrust agency over future of virtual reality

The Biden administration on Thursday accused Meta Platforms Inc of trying to buy its way to dominance in the metaverse, kicking off a high-profile trial to try to prevent the Facebook parent from buying virtual reality app developer Within Inc. The FTC sued in July to stop the deal, saying Meta's acquisition of Within would "tend to create a monopoly" in the market for virtual reality fitness apps. In an opening statement, FTC lawyer Abby Dennis said the Within acquisition was part of Meta's bid to acquire new and more diverse virtual reality users, including customers of Within's popular subscription-based virtual reality workout app Supernatural. Meta's lawyers also disputed that plans for a Meta-owned VR fitness app had proceeded beyond low-level "brainstorming" and argued that the FTC underestimated the competition in the market it had defined, citing the potential for fellow tech giants Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Bytedance to join the fray. It is available only on Meta's Quest devices, which are headsets offering immersive digital visuals and audio that market research firm IDC estimates capture 90% of global shipments in the virtual reality hardware market.