{"id":806,"date":"2025-04-17T16:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techrepublic.com\/?p=4302214"},"modified":"2025-04-17T16:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T16:33:15","slug":"metas-us-antitrust-trial-what-youve-missed-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tecnoartesanos.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/17\/metas-us-antitrust-trial-what-youve-missed-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta\u2019s US Antitrust Trial: What You\u2019ve Missed So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meta\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg. Image: Meta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meta was summoned to Washington to defend its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in a trial brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, which alleges the deals were part of a monopolistic strategy. The FTC wants Meta to divest these platforms to create a more level playing field in the social app market.<\/p>\n

Meta, which went only by Facebook then, bought photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and messaging platform WhatsApp in 2014. It argues that the acquisitions fueled the apps\u2019 growth and that there\u2019s little evidence they would have evolved into viable competitors on their own.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg maintained that he never intended to stifle competition through acquisition, according to live reporting from The Verge<\/a>. \u201cWas the intent to stop offering or stop making Instagram good? Absolutely not,\u201d he said. His hope was just to scale the app\u2019s user base tenfold, but he had done so hundredfold by 2018.<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg and the Meta team emphasised that the company has always faced \u2014 and continues to face \u2014 rivals while building Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, including platforms like TikTok and Google Plus.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Day 1: Monday, April 14<\/span><\/h2>\n

The most significant points discussed on the first day centred around TikTok. While the FTC wants to prove that Meta has monopolised the market of social apps that \u201cconnect friends and family,\u201d it does not include TikTok in that market.<\/p>\n

Meta argues that the Chinese video-sharing app should be seen as a viable competitor that holds comparable market value, according to The Verge. For instance, when TikTok was banned in the US for one day in January 2025, Facebook and Instagram usage spiked by 20% and 17%, respectively. If Zuckerberg can prove that the FTC\u2019s market definition is too narrow, Meta could win the case.<\/p>\n

The courts also heard that, in February 2012, Zuckerberg considered acquiring Instagram but did not make any significant changes to avoid creating \u201ca hole in the market for someone else to fill.\u201d Nevertheless, per The Verge, the CEO said he never took this route.<\/p>\n