Top Meta executives, including Mark Zuckerberg and former operational chief Sheryl Sandberg, are in hot seating as the federal committee’s landmark antitrust trial begins Monday in search of Meta’s farewell.
The case is undoubtedly the most well-known legal challenge in the history of meta and represents an existential threat to its business. The FTC claims that Zuckerberg-led Meta used what was called a “buy or burial” strategy for startups such as Instagram and WhatsApp before threatening social media monopoly.
The illegal strategy “established an entry barrier that has protected the meta advantage for over a decade,” FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson argued in an opening statement from the government in the US District Court in Washington, D.C. Judge James Boasberg is primarily on the case.
“Consumers don’t have a reasonable option to rely on,” Matheson argued.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $1 billion in 2012 and $19 billion in 2014. The Fed wants to break up the meta by forcing it to spin off its app as an independent business with a potentially failing blow.
According to eMarketer data, Meta will not release revenue figures per APP, but Instagram is projected to generate more than $37.133 billion this year, or more than half of Meta’s annual advertising revenue.
Meta lawyer Mark Hansen said in an opening statement at the trial that the FTC ignores the fact that people today are far fewer friends and family on social media, and that Instagram and Facebook users spend most of their time watching short videos via features modeled after Tiktok.
“This case is a grab bag of FTC theory in war with facts and war with law,” he said.
Both Zuckerberg and Sandberg are expected to be called as witnesses during trial and will be able to stand up soon on Monday. In an application in March, the FTC lawyer said Zuckerberg could grill for about seven hours.
Other well-known names that appear during the trial are set, including Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, current Instagram boss Adam Mosseri and current Meta COO Javier Olivan.
With signs of potential panic, Zuckerberg actively lobbyed President Trump and resolved the FTC case as part of a broader effort to cooperate with his administration.
The billionaire reportedly has personally visited the White House at least three times since Trump’s term began in January. Zuckerberg also cut a million-dollar check for Trump’s inauguration, ending Meta’s DEI efforts and eliminate fact-checks to plead for the president.
Despite these efforts, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson affirmed ahead of the trial that his team was ready to pursue the case to match its conclusion.
“The Trump Vance FTC is not ready for this trial,” said Joe Simonson, a spokesman for the FTC.
The incident was first filed in 2020 during Trump’s first term.
Zuckerberg is expected to face tough questions focused on the emails it sent during the acquisition. In one example from April 2012, Zuckerberg sent an email discussing whether to buy Instagram.
“Instagram can really hurt us without becoming a huge business,” Zuckerberg wrote at the time.
Meta pushed back the FTC allegations, claiming in a statement that the agency’s lawsuit is “opposed to reality.”
“More than a decade after FTC reviewed and cleared the acquisition, the Commission’s lawsuit in this case sends a message that the transaction is not truly final,” Meta said in a statement.
“Regulators should help American innovation rather than disbanding the great American companies and benefiting China further on serious issues like AI,” the company added.
Meanwhile, the FTC must clear the hiber to achieve division. Boasberg warned in his November ruling that the agency “is facing harsh questions about whether the claim can be held in the trial crucible.”
The FTC is just one of several legal and regulatory headaches facing the meta.
The European Union has been a few days since slapped Meta with massive fines for violations of digital market law. Sources have told the Post it could surpass $1 billion.
Separately, former Facebook executive-turned-Whistleblower Sarah Wylliams accused Zuckerberg and other executives of selling national security to China in bids that failed to gain access to the market.
With post wire
