Mark Zuckerberg takes stand at antitrust trial into Meta's purchase of Instagram, WhatsApp
FTC claims that in acquiring the two platforms, Meta aimed to eliminate competitors
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms, took the stand on Monday at a high-stakes trial in Washington over claims by U.S. antitrust enforcers that the company spent billions of dollars to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp to fend off Facebook competitors.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) argues that the Meta acquisitions from more than a decade ago were done to eliminate competitors who could threaten Facebook's status as the go-to social media platform for users to connect with friends and family.
If the commission's claim is upheld, Meta could be forced to hive off Instagram and WhatsApp from its operations.
Wearing a dark suit and light blue tie, Zuckerberg calmly responded to questions while working to combat allegations about Meta's motive in buying the companies.
Zuckerberg emphasized that friends and family sharing was only one priority for the app along with discovering other content.
In fact, a 2018 decision to prioritize Facebook content shared by users' friends over video posts and other public content failed to grasp a shift toward users sharing that content via messages instead of posting life updates in their feeds, Zuckerberg said.
"I think we misunderstood how social engagement online was evolving," Zuckerberg said.
"People just kept on engaging with more and more stuff that wasn't what their friends were doing," he said.
The case poses an existential threat to Meta, which by some estimates earns about half of its U.S. advertising revenue from Instagram. It also gives the public its first real measure of how strongly the new Trump administration will follow up on its promises to take on Big Tech.
Competition with TikTok
The FTC has pointed to emails in which Zuckerberg proposed acquiring the photo-sharing Instagram app as a way to neutralize a potential Facebook competitor, and expressed worry that encrypted messaging service WhatsApp could grow into a social network.
Meta has argued that its purchases of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 have benefited users, and that Zuckerberg's past statements are no longer relevant amid fierce competition from ByteDance's TikTok, Google's YouTube and Apple's messaging app.
How users spend time on social media — and whether they consider the services interchangeable — will be core to the case. Meta will point to an increase in traffic to Instagram and Facebook during TikTok's brief shutdown in the United States in January as evidence of competition.
The FTC claims Meta holds a monopoly on platforms used to share with friends and family. Its main competitors in the United States are Snap's Snapchat and MeWe, a tiny, privacy-focused social media app launched in 2016.
Platforms where users broadcast content to strangers based on shared interests, such as X, TikTok, YouTube and Reddit, are not interchangeable, the FTC has argued.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said in a ruling in November that while the FTC has enough evidence to move forward, the agency "faces hard questions about whether its claims can hold up in the crucible of trial."
The trial could stretch into July. If the FTC wins, it would have to separately prove that measures such as forcing Meta to sell Instagram or WhatsApp would restore competition.
Instagram especially valuable to Meta
Losing Instagram in particular could prove catastrophic to Meta's bottom line.
While Meta does not release app-specific revenue figures, advertising research firm Emarketer forecast in December that Instagram would generate $37.13 billion this year, a little over half of Meta's U.S. ad revenue.
Instagram also generates more revenue per user than any other social platform, including Facebook, according to Emarketer.
WhatsApp to date has contributed only a sliver to Meta's total revenue, but it is the company's biggest app in terms of daily users, and is ramping up efforts to earn money off tools like chatbots. Zuckerberg has said such "business messaging" services are likely to drive the company's next wave of growth.
The case is one of five where the FTC and U.S. Department of Justice accuse Big Tech companies of maintaining illegal monopolies.
Amazon and Apple are both being sued, and Alphabet's Google is facing two lawsuits, including one where a trial is set to begin next week on the government's bid to force Google to sell its Chrome browser.
Trump vs. big tech
The case is part of a crackdown on Big Tech started during Trump's first administration.
Meta has been making regular overtures to Trump since his election, nixing content moderation policies Republicans said amounted to censorship and donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration. Zuckerberg has also visited the White House multiple times in recent weeks.
Amazon, Apple and Alphabet's Google also face antitrust lawsuits by U.S. enforcers.
Several major tech companies have moved to align with Trump since the election, such as by rolling back diversity initiatives and having executives engage directly with the White House.
While a shift from the combative tone the companies took during Trump's first term, it has not resulted in a pullback on the antitrust cases.
With files from the Associated Press