Meta Wins FTC Antitrust Trial with Davis Polk and Kellogg Hansen as Counsel

Davis Polk and co-counsel Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick, PLLC represented Meta Platforms in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. The litigation challenged Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram (2012) and WhatsApp (2014), with the FTC alleging those purchases allowed Meta to maintain an illegal monopoly in the market for personal social networking. The FTC filed its complaint in 2020 following parallel investigations by the FTC, the Department of Justice and nearly 50 state attorneys general into twelve years of merger- and non-merger-related conduct and multiple individual acquisitions. Davis Polk advised Meta throughout the investigation, which involved review and production of millions of documents from almost 100 custodians and the preparation and defense of several senior executives and other personnel who provided sworn testimony. Following a weeks-long trial earlier in 2025, U.S. District Chief Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia found on November 18, 2025 that the FTC did not prove its claim. The Davis Polk trial team was honored as “Litigators of the Week” in AmLaw’s Litigation Daily column. Davis Polk represented Meta Platforms with a team composed by: partners Michael Scheinkman, James P. Rouhandeh and Sheila R. Adams James; counsel Gregory S. Morrison; and associate Marie Killmond. The investigation team included partners Howard Shelanski and Jesse Solomon and counsel David B. Toscano, Tina Hwa Joe and Meredith Manning. Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick, PLLC represented Meta Platforms with a co-counsel team.

Meta Wins FTC Antitrust Trial with Davis Polk and Kellogg Hansen as Counsel

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