Antitrust Trial: Meta's Mark Zuckerberg Testifies on Company's Monopoly Allegations
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a surprising revelation during the ongoing antitrust trial against Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified that he once considered separating Instagram from its parent company due to concerns about antitrust litigation.
The email in question, dated 2018, revealed that Zuckerberg was starting to wonder if "spinning Instagram out" would be the only way to accomplish important goals as big-tech companies grow. He also noted that there is a "non-trivial chance" Meta could be forced to spin out Instagram and perhaps WhatsApp in five to 10 years anyway.
Zuckerberg's statement comes as part of a broader discussion on corporate history, where he mentioned that most companies perform better after being split up. When asked which incidence in corporate history he had in mind, Zuckerberg responded that he was "not sure what I had in mind then."
Background on Meta's Acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp
Meta's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp has been a pivotal moment for the tech giant. Facebook bought Instagram, a photo-sharing app with no ads, for $1 billion in 2012. Two years later, it purchased WhatsApp, a messaging app, for $22 billion.
The acquisitions helped Facebook move its business from desktop computers to mobile devices and remain popular among younger generations as rivals like Snapchat and TikTok emerged. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a narrow definition of Meta's competitive market, excluding companies like TikTok, YouTube, and Apple's messaging service from being considered rivals to Instagram and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg Testifies on Concerns About Competition
During his testimony, Zuckerberg pushed back against claims that the reason for buying Instagram was to neutralize a threat. He stated that Facebook was in the process of building a camera app for sharing on mobile phones and thought Instagram was better at that, "so I wanted to buy them."
Zuckerberg also testified that buying the company, taking it off the market, and building their own version of it was "a reasonable thing to do." He acknowledged that the documents shown in court indicated his concern about competition but emphasized that charging for using services like Facebook would likely drive users away due to similar services being widely available elsewhere.
FTC's Challenge to Big Tech: A First Major Test
The ongoing trial is one of the first major tests of President Donald Trump's FTC ability to challenge big tech. The lawsuit was filed against Meta in 2020, during Trump's first term, claiming the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is presiding over the case, which began last year with a denial of Meta's request for a summary judgment. The trial is expected to continue Wednesday, with more questioning from attorneys on both sides.