The lawsuit, filed by an anonymous former Meta employee, had alleged that the company was discriminatory and retaliatory in its hiring practices. Judge Stephanie Rose determined that there wasn’t enough evidence to back up these claims, and declared the lawsuit “frivolous.”
Phhhoto claimed that Meta’s near-simultaneous release of Boomerang, which closely resembled its very own video looping app, constituted an unlawful attempt to monopolize the market for short GIF-like loops on social media. The suit was ultimately unsuccessful, as Boomerang was eventually integrated into Instagram itself.
Kiyo Matsumoto was probably not too pleased with Meta’s dismissal of its civil complaint. The district judge had approved a motion to dismiss the case on account of the statute of limitations, which would have barred Meta from suing until 2015.
In response to Photo’s failed Amended Complaint of 222 paragraphs, Judge Matsumoto called the possibility of any amendment to resolve the issue of the lawsuit’s timing “futile.” This means that Photo will have to refile its original complaint in order for their federal claims to be heard.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook engaged in anticompetitive behavior by launching Boomerang, a copycat app that reproduced the functionality of Phhhoto. By doing so, Facebook eliminated competition from Phhhoto, which led to the company’s eventual closure.
Meta Resources is pleased with the outcome of its meritless lawsuit against Facebook. The suit was driven by Meta’s concerns about Facebook’s logging of user activity and its potential impact on the privacy of Meta users. However, the court ruled that Facebook had not violated any laws or agreements with Meta, and dismissed all claims against the social media giant. This ruling reaffirms Facebook’s commitment to protecting user privacy and strengthens Meta’s trust in Facebook as an important partner in online data sharing.
Possibly the most interesting twist in Facebook’s saga with Instagram ismeta CEO and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg’s admission that he had downloaded the app before its official launch, making an account a full year beforehand. This evidence has led some to speculate that Zuckerberg himself may have been responsible for Boomerang’s conception. Co-founder of Instagram Kevin Systrom was also reported to have explored the app’s features at this time. Whether or not these connections play any role in Facebook choosing to buy Instagram is unknown, but they do hint at social media influence and interaction going all the way back to early development stages.
By 2017, Facebook had become increasingly aggressive in their pursuit of new photo-sharing platforms, reaching out to Phhhoto even dangling a partnership offer that never materialized. Eventually, thePhoto team was no more and Facebook had monopolized the market.
