Federal regulators on Wednesday took legal action to block Facebook parent Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg from acquiring virtual reality company Within Unlimited and its fitness app Supernatural, asserting the deal would hurt competition and violate antitrust laws.
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Experts said it was the Federal Trade Commission's first legal challenge to a Big Tech merger.
The FTC filed a complaint in federal court in San Francisco against the tech giant based in Menlo Park, California, and its high-profile CEO seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the proposed acquisition.
The regulators said that Meta already is a key player "at each level of the virtual reality sector," owning the top-selling device, a leading app store, seven of the most successful developers in the sphere and one of the best-selling apps of all time.
The FTC alleged that Meta and Zuckerberg plan to expand that VR empire by attempting to illegally acquire a dedicated fitness app.
Meta rejected the regulators' claims.
"The FTC's case is based on ideology and speculation, not evidence," the company said in a statement. "By attacking this deal ... the FTC is sending a chilling message to anyone who wishes to innovate in VR. We are confident that our acquisition of Within will be good for people, developers and the VR space."
