A federal judge on Tuesday handed Meta a victory, ruling against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an antitrust suit that claimed the social media giant stifled competition and bolstered a monopoly by buying upstart rivals.

The FTC sued Meta five years ago alleging anti-competitive behavior in what has amounted to the biggest legal challenge yet to one of the world's most influential social media companies. The case followed an investigation that began during the first Trump administration.

The FTC's suit contended that Facebook, which later became Meta, overpaid to acquire Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 as part of a "buy or bury" strategy to eliminate competitors and protect what it alleged is a monopoly in social networking.

The FTC argued that the only way to resolve

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