Meta Could Be Forced to Sell Instagram in Historic Antitrust Trial
Meta is facing a landmark antitrust trial that could force company CEO Mark Zuckerberg to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s historic antitrust case against Meta begins today (Monday) in Washington, D.C.
The consumer protection agency says Meta, which already owned Facebook, bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition before those platforms could grow into serious rivals — establishing what it claims is an illegal monopoly in the social media landscape.
Over the next two months, the U.S. government will try to prove that Meta used its dominance to squash potential threats instead of competing fairly.
According to the FTC, Meta, which previously went by the name of Facebook, maintained a monopoly by pursuing Zuckerberg’s strategy “expressed in 2008: ‘It is better to buy than compete.’ True to that maxim, Facebook has systematically tracked potential rivals and acquired companies that it viewed as serious competitive threats.”
The FTC also says Facebook put policies in place that made it harder for smaller competitors to break into the social media market and aimed to “neutralize perceived competitive threats” during the shift from desktop computers to mobile devices.
“Unable to maintain its monopoly by fairly competing, the company’s executives addressed the existential threat by buying up new innovators that were succeeding where Facebook failed,” the FTC says in its complaint.
The Biggest Trial in Meta’s History
If the FTC wins the pivotal case it could force Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to sell off both Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta is expected to argue that it helped turn Instagram and WhatsApp into global platforms used by billions of people, all while continuing to face strong competition. Senior executives, including Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg, are expected to testify during the trial in Washington, D.C.
In a statement, Meta says the evidence at trial “will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage, and many others.”
The case, FTC v Meta, was filed during US President Donald Trump’s first administration. In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has personally lobbied Trump to drop the FTC lawsuit. However, these attempts appear to have failed and the case goes to trial today with the company’s fate to be decided by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
