Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. 3 of the top 4 programmatic ad buying platforms introduced agents. The 6th biggest agency holding company allegedly made a bid to acquire a stake in the 5th biggest agency holding company. And the 2nd largest ad company in the world staved off a breakup.

Meta wins FTC antitrust trial that focused on WhatsApp, Instagram
Source: CNBC
November 18th, 2025

Summary: A judge ruled that the FTC failed to prove Meta has monopoly power, despite the FTC’s claims that Meta's 2012 Instagram acquisition ($1B) and 2014 WhatsApp purchase ($19B) were anti-competitive and should be unwound. 

The judge's reasoning: The social media landscape has drastically evolved to include TikTok and YouTube as direct substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, leading users to reallocate "massive amounts of time" away from Meta's platforms. The shift toward video content has been particularly significant—the judge noted that "the most-used part of Meta's apps is thus indistinguishable from the offerings on TikTok and YouTube."

Rather than operating as an insulated monopolist, Meta has been forced to "invest gobs of cash to keep up" with competition, according to the ruling, contradicting the FTC's monopoly claim.

Next up: Apple’s antitrust case, Amazon’s antitrust case, and Google’s ad tech antitrust case remedies.

Opinion: Sooo … Meta has TikTok and YouTube to thank for winning its five-year battle with the FTC. Just like Google had ChatGPT and AI to thank for winning its search antitrust battle with the DOJ (okay Google technically didn't win, but the remedies were so weak that Google essentially WON).

It seems like antitrust law, as written in the US, can't really touch Big Tech. The government needs to prove monopolies have harmed competition. It needs to prove they have harmed consumers through higher pricing and / or worse products. That's nearly impossible to do with companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon—their services are free or cheap, and (most) people love them.

The judge’s reasoning in this case: "Sure you bought competitors, but new ones emerged anyway." Counterpoint: We'll never know what Instagram or WhatsApp could have become as independent companies! Another likely reason, which remains unspoken: No judge wants to trigger the messy process of unwinding fully integrated products. It’s expensive, slows innovation, hurts the economy, and pisses off consumers. (Well played, Zuck) 

Big Tech is watching these cases closely. The rulings are emboldening them. The playbook is clear: acquire threats early, integrate quickly, amass market power, and wait for the legal system to come after you after you’ve already won and the government is helpless.

None of this is good for marketers. Big Tech will get bolder: Less transparency, more forced adoption of black-box AI tools, and platforms increasingly dictating terms to advertisers with zero leverage. The walled gardens’ walls are about to get higher.

Could AI be the great equalizer for upstarts? Maybe. But it's tough to bet against these giants in AI as well, as they are already dominating AI infrastructure, talent, and capital.

Thank you for reading the U of Digital Newsletter.
Continue reading by upgrading.

The U of Digital Weekly Newsletter is intended for subscribers, but occasional forwarding is okay!

To subscribe visit Uof.Digital/Newsletters or contact us directly for group subscriptions.

And remember, U of Digital helps teams drive better outcomes through structured education on critical topics like programmatic, privacy / identity, CTV, commerce media, AI, and more. Interested in learning more about how we can supercharge your team?