WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) -

Meta Platforms ( META ) cannot delay the U.S. Federal Trade

Commission from reopening a probe into alleged privacy failures

by its Facebook unit while the company pursues a lawsuit

challenging the agency's authority, a U.S. court ruled Friday.

The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the

D.C. Circuit in its order found that Meta had not shown its

challenge was likely to be successful. The court said Meta has

"not met its heavy burden of showing entitlement to an

injunction pending appeal."

The same appeals court panel on March 12 denied a

separate request by Meta in a related case to pause the FTC's

probe, which was announced last year, despite Meta's objections

that it already paid a $5 billion fine and agreed to a range of

safeguards.

The FTC wants to tighten an existing 2020 Facebook privacy

settlement to ban profiting from minors' data and expand curbs

on facial recognition technology. The agency has accused Meta of

misleading parents about protections for children.

Meta, which has denied misleading parents about privacy

risks, sued the FTC in November in a broad constitutional

challenge against the agency's ability to be both an

investigative body and an adjudicative one.

Meta said among other things that allowing the FTC action to

move forward would violate its right to a trial by jury.

The FTC and Meta did not immediately comment.

Friday's D.C. Circuit order addressed Meta's appeal of a

March 15 order by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in

Washington refusing to halt the agency's probe.

Moss in his decision said Meta had not overcome the FTC's

"strong" public interest in scrutinizing Meta's privacy

controls.

The FTC separately has accused Meta in an antitrust lawsuit

in Washington of abusing its power in the social media market to

crush or buy rivals.

Meta has denied the agency's claims, which could force the

company to sell its Instagram photo-sharing platform and

WhatsApp messenger.