FTC drops Mark Zuckerberg from lawsuit seeking to block Meta’s latest VR acquisition

Zuckerberg will no longer be a named defendant in the suit, according to a joint court filing by Meta and the FTC dated Tuesday. As part of the agreement, Zuckerberg will not attempt to purchase Within in his personal capacity, the filing said.

Within is the maker of a popular virtual fitness program known as Supernatural, and the FTC has alleged Meta is trying to unlawfully establish a “virtual reality empire” by gobbling up possible threats to its own future dominance in VR. Meta has disputed that Supernatural is a direct competitor to VR apps that it already owns, such as Beat Saber, and denies that the acquisition would reduce competition.