Meta could be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp if it loses a landmark trial that just started in the US.
So, what is the social media giant accused of, and what could the court case mean for all of us?
What is Meta accused of?
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is accusing Meta of buying Instagram and WhatsApp over a decade ago to neutralise its competition, in line with Mark Zuckerberg’s alleged 2008 directive that “it is better to buy than compete”.
When Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, emails read out in court show that Zuckerberg was worried about Facebook’s performance and that he thought Instagram was growing rapidly.
Instagram was the first company Facebook bought that was allowed to carry on running as a separate app – before then, it simply bought startups for their talented workers and then shut down the smaller company.
Two years later, it bought WhatsApp and ran that as a separate app too. Both sales were approved by the FTC at the time.
Meta denies the FTC’s claims and called the case a “weak lawsuit” that “ignores reality” – it says it faces plenty of competition from other social media companies.
FTC lawyers Daniel Matheson and Krisha Cerilli. Pic: Reuters
“The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram competes with TikTok (and YouTube and X and many other apps),” said a statement from the company at the beginning of the trial.
Zuckerberg appeared in court as the first witness and told prosecutors he wanted to buy Instagram because of its camera technology, not because of its social network.
But the FTC’s lawyer read out messages from Zuckerberg back in 2012 where he talked about the importance of “neutralising” Instagram.
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