Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously thought of spinning Instagram to another company, facing growing concerns with Facebook and competing interest.
The revelation comes from a 2018 document that was exhibited when Zuckerberg was plundered at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) trial against Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta.
“I wonder if we should consider the extreme steps of spinning out Instagram as another company,” Zuckerberg wrote in an email at the time.
“Most companies resist dissolution, but the history of a company is actually improving performance after most companies split,” he added. “Usually, the synergy is less than people think, and the strategic tax is usually greater than people think.”
He pointed to an increasing number of calls to disband large technologies that could ultimately cost Meta’s social media empire.
“If we take that into consideration, we should keep in mind that there is a real opportunity that all the work to build a family of apps may be something we cannot sustain,” he said.
Meta is currently on trial under antitrust laws that could lead to the company’s dissolution. The FTC has accused Meta of establishing a social networking monopoly with the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
When asked about Tuesday’s email, Zuckerberg said he was taking into account the way politics was moving at the time.
Antitrust enforcement against major tech companies has increased significantly in recent years across both Trump and Biden’s administrations.
The FTC sued Meta in 2020. In the same year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought antitrust laws to Google because it allegedly dominated online searches. A federal judge sided with the government in Google case last August.
In 2023, DOJ filed a second lawsuit against Google, followed in 2024 by a lawsuit against Apple. The FTC submitted an antitrust law to Amazon in 2023.
Beyond antitrust motivations, Zuckerberg pointed to potential strategic incentives to split Instagram from other metas.
The FTC presented several documents on Tuesday, highlighting the impact of Zuckerberg’s concerns in 2018 on Facebook and Instagram.
In early 2018, Zuckerberg urged the company to start shifting its ad load towards Instagram as Facebook struggled, according to an internal email. He later warned that Instagram’s growth could lead to “cannibalism and network collapse” on Facebook.
Zuckerberg tried to frame the decision to increase Instagram ads as a strategic decision for the entire Meta. However, the FTC pointed out an increased advertising load in its opening discussion Monday as a potential harm to consumers.
Meta’s CEO spent the past two days in the witness stand after failing to file a lawsuit to resolve the lawsuit before heading to trial.
