Meta won a lawsuit with the FTC over the purchase of VR startup Within

The court rejected the request of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which prohibited Meta Corporation from acquiring the software company for virtual and augmented reality devices Within Unlimited. The court found that the transaction would not harm competition in the market.

Meta announced the purchase of Within in October 2021. The regulator sued the corporation last summer, accusing it of intending to dominate the VR and AR markets.

A Meta spokesman said that the corporation's management was pleased with the court's decision regarding the commission's request. He added that Meta is looking forward to completing the deal soon.

The FTC failed to prove that Meta plans to take over Within to eliminate a competitor in the virtual reality fitness software market, noted U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Within developed the Supernatural app, which was released in 2020. It is a virtual reality fitness solution that combines trackers with rhythmic exercise. The FTC suspected Meta was trying to eliminate a competitor because the company had previously refused to develop similar content.

Last December, the head of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, said that by buying Within, the company aims to develop the industry of virtual reality, not to dominate it. That same month, Meta agreed to postpone the deal with the startup until January 31.

In 2014, Facebook (Meta's name until October 2021) bought VR hardware and software developer Oculus (Reality Labs currently). In 2019, Facebook acquired Beat Games, the studio that created the VR game Beat Saber.