FTC v. Meta: The antitrust battle over WhatsApp and Instagram
- Meta is facing an existential antitrust trial, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suing to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
- The FTC alleges that Meta sought to extinguish Instagram and WhatsApp as threats to Facebook’s dominance in the social media market.
- During Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony, he denied buying Instagram to squash it, but admitted that he wanted to neutralize a potential competitor and that Instagram grew far larger than he ever imagined.
- The FTC claims that Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have created a monopoly, stifling competition in the social media market and allowing Meta to prioritize its own interests over those of its users.
- The trial is ongoing, with both sides presenting evidence and arguments on whether Meta’s actions constitute antitrust violations and whether the company should be broken up or forced to divest its acquisitions.
The long-awaited antitrust trial between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission kicked off on April 14th. Over about two months, DC District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg is hearing arguments about whether then-Facebook illegally monopolized the market for “personal social networking services” through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The FTC first brought the case in late 2020. While it was initially thrown out by the judge, he let an amended version move forward after the government beefed up details about why it thinks Meta is a monopoly. This phase of the trial will help the judge determine if Meta is liable for breaking antitrust law. If he finds that to be true, he’ll later rule on how those harms should be remedied. The FTC is pushing for Instagram and WhatsApp should be spun off.
This is the third US trial seeking to break up Big Tech in recent years, following the Justice Department’s two separate cases against Google over its search and ad tech businesses.
Read below for all of our updates on the FTC v. Meta case.
- Is MeWe a red herring?
- FTC expert critiques Meta’s ‘gotcha approach.’
- FTC v. Meta trial enters its final day.
- Meta’s antitrust defense wraps with one big claim: WhatsApp and Instagram couldn’t be better
- Meta rests its case.
- FTC resurrects an exhibit from the Google search antitrust case.
- Instagram far outperformed expectations from its 2012 acquisition.
- Did WhatsApp really need Meta?
- Facebook doesn’t show more ads to users who have more friends.
- Instagram users are less interested in friend content than they used to be.
- Snapchat isn’t the main check on Meta’s power.
- Buying Instagram was a ‘grand slam home run.’
- Meta’s key economic expert takes the stand.
- Judge rejects Meta’s bid to throw out the FTC’s antitrust case early.
- Instagram handled lots of growth and features before using Meta’s infrastructure.
- Joining Facebook ‘rapidly’ solved lots of Instagram’s issues.
- One of Instagram’s earliest employees testifies about its pre-Facebook ‘chaos.’
- WhatsApp co-founder left behind $800 million in Meta’s restricted stock units.
- Meta diluted encryption on WhatsApp after its co-founder left.
- Facebook was reticent to push WhatsApp in places Messenger dominated.
- A Facebook employee tried to be WhatsApp’s CFO before the deal.
- WhatsApp added plenty of features before Meta bought it.
- WhatsApp could have made enough money without ads.
- WhatsApp didn’t bother getting Google to bid against Meta to buy it.
- ‘No ads, no games, no gimmicks.’
- WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton takes the stand.
- FTC ignores ‘robust’ competition Meta faces for advertisers.
- FTC tries to poke holes in Meta’s TikTok ban theory.
- Does Google Chrome compete with Facebook?
- Facebook and Instagram might have had more ads as separate companies.
- Facebook and Instagram benefited from India’s TikTok ban.
- YouTube benefits most when people reduce their Instagram usage.
- Friends and family sharing is not a ‘secret sauce.’
- Meta calls on Walmart’s chief economist to back its antitrust defense.
- Meta asks judge to throw out antitrust case mid-trial
- Facebook chief worries about differentiating Reels.
- TikTok took Facebook by surprise.
- Facebook is in the midst of an identity crisis.
- Getting people to share more with their friends isn’t always worthwhile.
- Facebook’s friends tab lets it have its cake and eat it too.
- Facebook friends posts are ‘becoming a supporting part of the cast.’
- You might need to scroll Facebook all day to see all your friends’ posts.
- ‘OG Facebook’ tries to invoke early social media nostalgia.
- The core reason people use Facebook has changed in the past three years.
- Facebook didn’t want to dilute friend content.
- A friendless Facebook.
- Facebook users don’t care about all of their friends.
- Users don’t always know what they want.
- Head of Facebook Tom Alison takes the stand.
- Using Instagram isn’t necessary to evaluate an anticompetitive effect.
- Meta knew about the FTC expert’s pitch for regulators to investigate it.
- When ads get better, Meta shows users more of them.
- ‘You’ve known what you thought of this case before you saw a shred of evidence.’
- Can Facebook discriminate against the majority of its users?
- Meta pushes back on the claim it discriminates against users who like seeing friends’ posts.
- FTC expert is ‘monkeying’ with charts, Meta charges.
- Are ads really that annoying?
- To make Facebook cheaper, it would need to pay users.
- TikTok users fled to Facebook and Instagram when it went dark.
- Meta’s beef with the press flares at its antitrust trial
- Tim Wu and Chris Hughes pitched a Facebook probe to regulators.
- FTC expert can’t tell the difference between Reels, TikTok, and Shorts.
- FTC’s expert witness has an ‘axe to grind,’ Meta charges.
- Are ads inevitable?
- Pay attention to what users do, not what they say.
- How much did Meta care about a ‘competitive moat’?
- Could Instagram have grown larger than it already is?
- ‘Innocent explanations’ for WhatsApp’s acquisition fail.
- WhatsApp would have had to make money eventually.
- Microsoft also claimed to be ‘hemmed in’ by competition.
- Do users’ quality perceptions matter?
- ‘Needy users’ get fewer ads on Facebook and Instagram.
- Infrequent ads on Reels is ‘price discrimination.’
- Why one obscure app could help crumble Meta’s empire
- Boasberg scrutinizes the FTC’s arguments.
- Not all alternatives are created equal.
- Can Meta monopolize something that’s a fraction of its business?
- TikTok’s blackout doesn’t show it’s a substitute for Instagram.
- Very few Instagram users only spend time on Reels.
- Are people less interested in seeing posts from their friends?
- The FTC’s chief economic expert is up next.
- TikTok had a lesser impact on Instagram ‘friend content.’
- Instagram has already reached most eligible users in the US.
- User engagement on Instagram wasn’t as great as it seemed.
- Are Snapchat and MeWe the only things holding back Meta’s dominance?
- Mapping users’ connections is becoming less important.
- Instagram would have followed Twitter’s growth strategy.
- ‘Kevin overreacted.’
- ‘In the end, it didn’t matter.’
- The other side of the Instagram ‘skirmish.’
- Meta trial enters week five.
- Instagram CEO testifies about competing with TikTok: ‘You’re either growing, or you’re slowly dying’
- People like Meta about as much as Wells Fargo.
- Focusing on friends and family helped Instagram grow.
- Keeping Messenger alive post-WhatsApp could ‘prove there is competition.’
- ‘Make Instagram Instagram again.’
- Creators always want more reach.
- ‘TikTok is notorious about being very loose with its data.’
- ‘One of the best acquisitions of all time.’
- Instagram ‘drifted culturally a bit too far’ from Facebook.
- Instagram has spent up to $700 million in a year to lure creators.
- ‘Compared to the competition, we are looking a bit sad.’
- ‘We need to adapt, and do so quickly.’
- Mosseri calls the first version of Reels his ‘biggest mistake.’
- ‘TikTok is probably the fiercest competition that we have faced.’
- ‘You’re either growing, or you’re slowly dying.’
- TikTok and YouTube have become more similar to Instagram.
- Threads was originally going to live inside the Instagram app
- Instagram doesn’t want to be a ‘lean-back experience.’
- ‘Part of our core identity’ is connecting friends.
- Mosseri moderated a ‘strained’ relationship with Instagram’s founders.
- ‘Instagram will always need to focus on friends.’
- The FTC plays Mosseri’s ‘Decoder’ interview.
- Threads was initially going to be inside the Instagram app.
- People go to Twitter for news and celebrities.
- Connecting with friends is still an important part of using Instagram.
- Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri takes the stand.
- Instagram chief Adam Mosseri is testifying tomorrow.
- Meta’s chief marketing officer takes the stand.
- Court adjourns for the day.
- Cuts to Instagram’s growth staffing came ‘out of the blue,’ Systrom wrote.
- Meta supercharged Instagram’s growth, its former product chief says.
- Messenger exec was ‘not at all’ concerned about WhatsApp becoming a major competitor.
- ‘We’re all terrified.’
- People don’t come to TikTok to connect with real-life friends.
- Meta has grown despite the threat of TikTok.
- Meta throws a jab at Apple over its developer policies.
- Focusing on friends and family wasn’t a great strategy for Meta.
- Ads aren’t a huge cost for users.
- ‘Very little interest’ in Meta’s ad-free subscription in Europe.
- Users don’t really notice when Meta shows them more ads.
- Apple’s privacy changes let users block Meta from tracking them off-app.
- Would Instagram have collected less user data without Meta?
- Meta’s chief revenue officer is up next.
- Users don’t actually want a chronological feed.
- Meta saw a ‘precipitous decline’ in user sentiment after its speech policy changes.
- Media events can impact how users feel about Meta, even if the product doesn’t change.
- House Republicans drop their bid to strip the FTC’s antitrust authority.
- Cambridge Analytica had the ‘most extreme to date’ impact on how users feel about Meta.
- Keeping up with friends is important to Facebook users.
- The TikTok ban is back in court — in Meta’s antitrust trial
- Does Meta care about its users?
- Reworking ByteDance’s systems for a US-only TikTok would be costly.
- The TikTok ban makes another cameo.
- TikTok predicted Instagram would redesign its app to focus on Reels.
- Are YouTube and Instagram the top competitors for TikTok?
- TikTok and Reels are ‘indistinguishable.’
- TikTok’s friends tab is not exactly a hit.
- TikTok’s legal entanglements collide.
- Reels isn’t Instagram’s ‘core’ experience.
- TikTok doesn’t compete with Meta for ‘personal social networking.’
- TikTok’s head of operations takes the stand.
- Yahoo once paid $1 billion for an unprofitable tech startup, too.
- Tumblr’s former CTO tells the court about fandoms.
- Apple lists its messages app under social networking.
- Apple hasn’t considered putting ads in its messaging app.
- ‘Who are all these people?’
- An Apple iMessage exec is up next.
- Meta prepared for a ‘flood in traffic’ ahead of the TikTok ban.
- It’s now ‘extremely easy’ to build a social graph from scratch.
- ‘We wanted it to be one of the biggest apps in the world.’
- Facebook didn’t fear WhatsApp becoming a social competitor.
- Cambridge Analytica hit Facebook’s reputation, but its user numbers saw less impact.
- Meta was willing to sacrifice some Instagram growth to grow the whole pie.
- Facebook worried most about Google or Apple buying WhatsApp.
- Google had a ‘long shot’ chance of becoming competitive in social with WhatsApp.
- Facebook didn’t know how it would make money from WhatsApp.
- Facebook floated starting from scratch on messaging.
- WhatsApp showed ‘absolutely no signs of morphing’ into a social app.
- Facebook exec worried about losing the business to mobile messaging apps.
- ‘I was really worried that this could become the end.’
- ‘This shit is getting scary.’
- Meta COO Javier Olivan kicks off day 10 of trial.
- More cloud talk.
- An AWS exec testifies about how startups can scale with its cloud.
- Facebook execs worried Google would buy WhatsApp and make it ‘a cross-platform iMessage.’
- Pinterest once saw Instagram as an ‘existential threat.’
- Smaller apps don’t need Meta to keep users safe.
- Pinterest is a ‘lifestyle’ app.
- Pinterest’s former head of user growth is up next.
- Reddit doesn’t think it’s a social networking platform.
- Users also post workout content on Facebook and Instagram.
- You won’t find baby photos on Strava.
- A former Strava executive is testifying about its social platform.
- Twitter wasn’t really about sharing with friends and family.
- ‘I can’t believe that’s on the website.’
- Twitter chose to focus on a different use case from Facebook.
- It’s not all about competing for attention.
- Judge Boasberg is getting schooled on how X works.
- An X product executive who built Community Notes is on the stand.
- Here’s who’s closing out Meta’s second week of trial.
- Taking a brief break to tune into the Google search remedies trial.
- Facebook is distinct from other popular social media apps.
- Shutting down Facebook Camera was ‘unrelated to Instagram.’
- Facebook Camera didn’t directly compete with Instagram.
- ‘Facebook squashes competition.’
- Facebook was urgently working on an Instagram competitor months before the deal.
- A former product manager for Facebook’s defunct camera app is testifying.
- Instagram co-founder: Zuckerberg saw us as a ‘threat’ to Facebook
- Kevin Systrom is finished testifying.
- Instagram had its own trust and safety team for what Meta wouldn’t prioritize.
- Becoming part of Meta was a ‘mixed bag’ for Instagram.
- Instagram’s probability of failing without Meta’s help was ‘low.’
- Systrom says Zuckerberg got a ‘screaming deal’ by paying $1 billion for Instagram.
- Negotiating or misleading?
- ‘Sir:’ Systrom resists Meta’s spin on his testimony.
- Systrom explains the importance of network effects.
- Meta made a list of features that helped Instagram and then cut them.
- Zuckerberg had ‘real human’ emotions about Instagram’s growth.
- ‘We were a threat to their growth.’
- Meta cut growth resources to Instagram.
- Zuckerberg wouldn’t give Instagram more integrity staff after Cambridge Analytica.
- Twitter limited Instagram’s integration ‘in direct retaliation’ to Facebook.
- Apple, Google, and Twitter were interested in buying Instagram.
- Systrom pitched ads for Instagram before it was acquired.
- Instagram didn’t have Twitter’s ‘fail whale’ problem.
- Instagram could have added video and messaging without Meta’s help.
- Instagram’s growth didn’t slow until after its first year at Meta.
- It was hard to keep up with Instagram’s early growth.
- Systrom recounts Instagram’s origins as Burbn.
- Kevin Systrom takes the stand.
- Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom takes the stand tomorrow.
- Meta execs discussed whether WhatsApp could ‘wedge’ its way into social media.
- ‘It wasn’t obvious you could make a great return’ by paying as much as Meta did for Instagram.
- Sequoia believed it could have helped Instagram grow independently.
- ‘It was catching lightning in a bottle’ to invest in Instagram.
- Instagram investor testifies about the app’s growth before Meta’s acquisition.
- Putting ads on WhatsApp ‘was not even a discussion point’ before Meta bought it.
- Meta wanted WhatsApp to sign a ‘no shop’ agreement.
- Former Google exec testifies about the company’s attempt to buy WhatsApp.
- Meta is digging through the FTC expert’s personal blog.
- Meta is trying to discredit the FTC’s expert.
- WhatsApp could have threatened Facebook if Google acquired it.
- Judge asks why it’s ‘laughable’ that WhatsApp’s investors could force an ad model.
- WhatsApp likely would have expanded into social networking, even though its founders resisted it.
- Instagram and WhatsApp were ‘highly likely to be successful’ without Meta.
- Meta is starting its second week of trial against the FTC.
- The government doesn’t understand Meta
- Meta gets a Friday breather.
- Big Tech is back on trial
- Does Google think Meta is its competition?
- YouTube struggled with adding social features.
- The FTC calls Google’s Aaron Filner as its next witness.
- Meta didn’t overpay for WhatsApp, according to the app’s investor.
- WhatsApp’s founders ‘shot down’ suggestions of adding social features.
- Facebook considered ad-free subscriptions after the Cambridge Analytica scandal
- Sequoia tried to get WhatsApp to skirt Zuckerberg’s advances.
- Zuckerberg was ‘very concerned’ that Tencent wanted to buy WhatsApp.
- Plenty of companies were interested in WhatsApp before Facebook bought it.
- Sequoia is ‘dramatically better off’ when the startups it backs go public, rather than get acquired.
- WhatsApp investor Sequoia saw Facebook as the app’s ‘most significant threat.’
- Sandberg is done testifying.
- Meta considered a subscription model to address Cambridge Analytica backlash.
- TikTok’s rise lowered Meta’s revenue forecast.
- The FTC’s view of how Meta’s ads work ‘doesn’t make any sense.’
- Ads can be ‘as good as content.’
- Sandberg is back on the stand to kick off day four of trial.
- Zuckerberg tells court he made WhatsApp and Instagram better
- Sandberg says she was wrong about Meta paying too much for Instagram.
- Meta’s network effects hasn’t protected it from competition.
- Cambridge Analytica didn’t impact Meta’s engagement metrics.
- Meta was focused on Instagram’s quality, not its competitive impact.
- The rise of Google Plus was a ‘rallying the troops’ moment.
- Ex-COO Sheryl Sandberg takes the stand.
- Zuckerberg is done testifying.
- Zuckerberg defends his decision to put more ads on Instagram.
- Google, Apple, and Snap aren’t happy about Meta’s poorly-redacted slides
- Buying TikTok’s precursor would have been ‘too complicated’ because of its China ties.
- Zuckerberg’s testimony gives the court his vision of the future.
- Zuckerberg on buying WhatsApp: ‘I’d do it again.’
- WhatsApp’s founders had limited aspirations.
- Meta wasn’t too worried about WhatsApp becoming a rival.
- Zuckerberg can’t rule out that Instagram would have succeeded on its own.
- Instagram grew far larger than Zuckerberg ever imagined.
- Zuckerberg flatly denies that he bought Instagram to squash it.
- ‘Only the paranoid survive.’
- ChatGPT’s image generation gets a shoutout.
- AI is solving Meta’s ‘negative network effects’ problem.
- ‘I don’t like it when our competitors do better than us.’
- Zuckerberg: TikTok slowed Meta’s growth ‘dramatically.’
- Apple, Google, and Snap accuse Meta of being reckless with their confidential info.
- Zuckerberg’s wildest ideas in Meta’s history
- Meta reportedly offered $1 billion to settle the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.
- We’re done with day two of Zuckerberg’s testimony.
- Your Honor, we sell ads.
- ‘What is MeWe?’
- Zuckerberg takes an opportunity to jab the EU.
- Meta doesn’t ‘optimize directly’ for time spent on its platform.
- Meta’s antitrust trial slide redactions aren’t actually hiding anything
- The FTC is done questioning Zuckerberg for now.
- The FTC is trying to pin Zuckerberg down on its market definition.
- Mark Zuckerberg once suggested wiping all Facebook friends lists to boost usage
- Zuckerberg sees LinkedIn as competition.
- Mark Zuckerberg suggested spinning off Instagram
- Zuckerberg offered to buy Snapchat for $6 billion.
- Meta discussed having a feed that only contains ads.
- Zuckerberg’s ‘crazy idea’ to reset everyone Facebook’s friends to zero.
- People like ads, actually?
- After Snapchat turned Zuckerberg down, he worried about the rise of Stories.
- Zuckerberg: Snapchat would have grown faster with us.
- Meta was worried about early messaging apps expanding into its business.
- Meta considered blocking rival messaging app ads.
- ‘A billion dollars is very expensive.’
- Settlers of Catan makes a cameo.
- Zuckerberg downplays that he wanted to buy Instagram to ‘neutralize a potential competitor.’
- We’re here for day two of the FTC v. Meta trial.
- Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand
- Here’s how the FTC began its case against Meta.
- A slow start to the trial.
- Facebook considered keeping Instagram alive to keep ‘everyone from hating us.’
- ‘I wonder if we should consider buying Instagram.’
- Facebook had interns working on its Instagram competitor.
- Zuckerberg’s testimony trudges through years of social media history.
- “Mission accomplished.”
- Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand.
- Here are the slides Meta used to lay out its defense.
- Facebook and Instagram traffic surged when TikTok went down.
- Meta slams FTC’s ‘grab bag’ case as ‘at war with the facts, and at war with the law.’
- FTC previews evidence that Meta allegedly sought to extinguish Instagram and WhatsApp as threats.
- We’re at the courthouse where Meta is facing its existential antitrust trial.
- Meta goes to trial to avoid a breakup of Instagram and WhatsApp
- FTC chair says he’d ‘obey lawful orders’ if Trump asked to drop an antitrust case like Meta’s
- Judge says the FTC’s Meta monopoly lawsuit can go forward
- Federal court dismisses FTC’s bid to unwind Instagram from Facebook
- The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp
Q. What is the main issue with Meta’s acquisition of Instagram?
A. The FTC alleges that Meta acquired Instagram to eliminate a potential competitor and stifle its growth.
Q. Why did Meta acquire WhatsApp?
A. According to Zuckerberg, he would do it again if given the chance, as WhatsApp had limited aspirations and was not seen as a threat at the time.
Q. How much did Meta offer to settle the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit?
A. Meta reportedly offered $1 billion to settle the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.
Q. What is the FTC’s main argument against Meta’s acquisition of Instagram?
A. The FTC alleges that Meta acquired Instagram to eliminate a potential competitor and stifle its growth, and that this acquisition has led to negative network effects for both companies.
Q. Did Zuckerberg ever consider buying Snapchat or other messaging apps?
A. Yes, according to Zuckerberg, he considered buying Snapchat for $6 billion and also discussed having a feed that only contained ads.
Q. How did Meta’s acquisition of Instagram affect its growth?
A. According to Kevin Systrom, Instagram grew far larger than Zuckerberg ever imagined after being acquired by Meta.
Q. What is the FTC’s definition of a monopoly?
A. The FTC has not explicitly defined what constitutes a monopoly in this case, but has argued that Meta’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp has led to anti-competitive behavior.
Q. Did Meta consider blocking rival messaging app ads?
A. Yes, according to Zuckerberg, Meta considered blocking rival messaging app ads as part of its defense against the FTC’s lawsuit.
Q. How did Meta’s acquisition of WhatsApp affect its growth?
A. According to Zuckerberg, WhatsApp slowed Meta’s growth dramatically after the acquisition.
Q. What is the significance of the “negative network effects” problem in this case?
A. The “negative network effects” problem refers to how Meta’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp has led to a decrease in overall user engagement and growth for both companies, rather than an increase as would be expected from a successful merger.