Meta-anti-trust trial: Does Mark Zuckerberg have to sell Instagram, Facebook? Everything you need to know
Mark Zuckerberg faced one of the biggest lawsuits Monday as a high-risk trial against him began in U.S. court on April 14. If the Chief Executive fails to win the antitrust case, the company may be forced to break up and sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
Mark Zuckerberg vs ftc
At the beginning of Monday’s trial in Washington, Reuters reported that an FTC lawyer claimed that Facebook’s parent meta platform bought freshman rivals Instagram and WhatsApp after trying to compete.
FTC attorney Daniel Matheson said the illegal strategy “has established more than a decade of entry barriers that protected Meta’s dominance.”
He believes that buying WhatsApp and Instagram has left consumers without “reasonable alternatives to help”.
The case was filed during Donald Trump’s first term, claiming that Meta bought the companies a decade ago to eliminate competition among social media platforms where users connect with friends and family.
The case poses a potential threat to META, which is estimated to have half of U.S. advertising revenue from Instagram, while testing the big technology promised by the new Trump administration, like Reuters.
Will Mark Zuckerberg sell instagram, whatsapp?
Meta is sure it will win the case and may think Instagram’s user experience is getting better, according to a BBC report.
But if the judge is on the side of the FTC and the entire administration, Mark Zuckerberg may be forced to break up with Instagram and WhatsApp, other companies will be under the radar.
But, a CNN report said that if Donald Trump, who has improved his relationship with Zuckerberg over the years, decided to enter the room, the situation might be different.
The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported on April 2 that Zuckerberg has been trying to convince Trump to resolve the FTC case. The report was the same day when the Yuan Master was found in the White House on the same day.
“Remember how Mark Zuckerberg started donating $1 million to Trump to Meta to donate to his inauguration? Now, Zuckerberg is trying to cash out – lobbying Trump to resolve the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Meta. That’s why you always follow that money.”
Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said the case was weak and was a deterrent to technology investment.
“It is ridiculous for the FTC to try to break down a great American company while the government is trying to save the Chinese-owned Tiktok,” she wrote on Sunday’s blog post.
