Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand Monday in what many are calling the “antitrust trial of the decade.” The FTC wants Meta to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing the company bought out the rival platforms before they could compete with it.
What’s the evidence? The government is pointing to a 2012 Zuckerberg email in which he called Instagram’s advantage over Facebook’s own photo sharing functions “scary”, adding “it might be worth paying a lot of money for this” because “it is better to buy than to compete.”
But counsel for Meta say the decision was necessary to compete with other platforms like TikTok and Youtube.
The case will hinge on how the court defines Meta’s “market” – if TikTok and Youtube do in fact count as “competitors”, then Meta would not be considered not a monopoly in the space.
This is all a big test of Big Tech’s relationship with the White House. The Meta case was launched during US President Donald Trump’s first term, but in his second term Big Tech has featured more prominently in Trump’s entourage. Zuckerberg himself has visited the White House several times to try (so far unsuccessfully) to convince Trump to settle the case rather than proceed to trial. He also, like many tech billionaires, contributed lavishly to Trump's inauguration fund.Meta isn’t the only one: The Meta trial is expected to last eight weeks but it is just one of five bubbling antitrust lawsuits against tech giants, including Google, Apple and Amazon.
