Zuckerberg Defends Facebook's Acquisitions at US Antitrust Trial

Photo : Reuters

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, spoke in a court case for the second day in Washington, defending his company against claims that it bought Instagram and WhatsApp to stop other companies from growing. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is arguing that Meta used its power to get rid of competition and stay in control of the social media world.

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Zuckerberg was asked about old emails from 2012, in which Facebook's former financial officer said one reason for buying companies like Instagram was to "neutralize a competitor." But Zuckerberg didn't talk much about competition. Instead, he focused on how Facebook helped improve Instagram and WhatsApp after buying them. He said that adding Instagram to Facebook went really well and that it added more value to Instagram than they thought. He also said that after that, Meta felt confident it could buy more social apps and help them grow faster.

Zuckerberg also talked about Snapchat. He believes that if Snapchat had accepted Facebook's offer to buy it in 2013, it would now have billions of users. Right now, Snapchat has about 450 million daily users.

This trial focuses on Facebook's $1 billion purchase of Instagram in 2012. At the time, Instagram was a small photo-sharing app, but now it has over two billion users. The FTC showed an email where Zuckerberg called Instagram's rise "really scary," which is why he thought Facebook should spend a lot of money to buy it. When asked about this email, Zuckerberg said it was just early talk before Facebook's plan for Instagram was fully decided.

The FTC also points to Facebook's $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp in 2014 as another example of Meta trying to buy out its competitors. They argue that Zuckerberg was worried that WhatsApp could grow into a social network or be bought by a competitor. But Meta's lawyers say that they invested a lot of money into Instagram and WhatsApp to make them better and turn them into successful apps.

Meta's lawyers also pointed out that their apps, like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, are free for users and that they face a lot of competition, especially from apps like TikTok and YouTube. But the FTC lawyer, Matheson, argued that Facebook decided it was easier to buy out other companies instead of competing with them.

Meta's lawyer, Mark Hansen, said that buying companies to improve them is not against the law. He argued that this is what Facebook did with Instagram and WhatsApp. A big part of the trial will be about how the FTC defines the market Meta is in. The government argues that Facebook and Instagram are the main apps for connecting with friends and family, but Meta disagrees. They think their main competitors are TikTok and YouTube because of their focus on videos.

Zuckerberg told the court that Meta has a lot of work to do in the video space, saying that TikTok and YouTube are ahead of Meta, and it has to catch up. The court will decide whether Meta's purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp were wrong or if they helped improve these apps.

This case, which started in December 2020, is a big moment for how the government deals with big technology companies. It will help decide if the law should be stricter on companies like Meta or if they should be allowed to continue buying out their competitors. This case is also important because it shows the power that big tech companies have in the world today.