FTC Sues Meta to Prevent It From Taking Over the Metaverse

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Meta in order to stop it from purchasing Within, a developer of VR-based fitness applications. FTC claims that the purchase would have granted Meta monopoly over the entire metaverse space.

Within is the developer behind the popular VR fitness app, Supernatural. Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and the developer of the Quest 2 virtual reality headset, also has ownership over Beat Saber, a popular virtual reality game.

FTC claims that many players are using Beat Saber as a fitness app, so the acquisition of Within would disrupt a healthy competitive environment in the world of VR. Moreover, Meta is allegedly stifling the competition by purchasing independent teams, instead of developing its own competing projects.

Meta responded with a statement, claiming that the acquisition of Within would only instill additional money into the VR-fitness space. The company also claims that Beat Saber and Supernatural are not sufficiently similar for the FTC’s action to make sense.

In more bad news for Meta, the company announced today that it has suffered $2.81 billion losses in Q1 2022. This means the company’s yearly losses are currently sitting at some $5.77 billion.