The court went on to hold that Meta established its laches defense because the causes of action accrued when Facebook acquired Instagram (in 2012) and WhatsApp (in 2014) but plaintiffs did not bring suit until 2020 – even though they were on notice of the acquisitions, including because the "Federal Trade Commission conducted a lengthy, publicly reported, investigation to determine whether Facebook's acquisition of Instagram would violate the antitrust laws." The court of appeals agreed with the lower court that using the four-year statutory limitation period for antitrust damages actions as a guideline for laches was appropriate. The court also agreed that Meta would be prejudiced because, according to plaintiffs' allegations, it "has made business decisions and allocated firm resources based on holding Instagram and WhatsApp, and it has also integrated their offerings to some extent into its core business." Monopolization.