Better buy than compete. Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, is said to have said that years ago. In its competition lawsuit filed in December, the US antitrust agency FTC cited this quote to illustrate why the social network should be broken up. With the purchase of services such as Whatsapp and Instagram, which were seen as a threat to its own market position, Facebook had inadmissibly obtained its monopoly. The lawsuit made it a real threat that the group could be forced to split off Whatsapp and Instagram.

That is now off the table, a judge has dismissed the lawsuit.

It's a slap in the face for the FTC, who fear their most prominent cartel case will vanish into thin air.

The judge put the lawsuit on hold at a very early stage, and he went tough with the cartel guards who he accused of doing sloppy work.

They had not even conclusively proven that the company was a monopoly, let alone that it had abused this position.

The case is unchecked and the authorities can try to dispel the judge's objections with a new version of the lawsuit.

But the hurdle is higher now.

Numerous antitrust bills in Congress

Facebook can undoubtedly book the decision as a success, but shouldn't be too happy. The growing number of critics of the tech giants in American politics will see the verdict as additional ammunition on why the country's antitrust laws are in desperate need of reform.

Appropriate approaches have accumulated, in Congress a whole series of bills have just been presented, which provide for dramatic changes in antitrust law. This also includes a completely different approach to acquisitions: Companies would have the burden of proof to show that acquisitions do not harm competition. How far these initiatives can get in the polarized political environment in America remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that following the provisional rejection of the cartel lawsuit, there is no reason to give the all-clear for Facebook.