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Tengrinews.kz - Meta Platforms, founded and led by Mark Zuckerberg, is facing accusations of illegally monopolizing the social media landscape, according to The Guardian.
The company is being sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which alleges that Meta eliminated potential rivals by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp for billions of dollars over a decade ago.
“U.S. antitrust enforcers seek to unwind the deals. (...) The FTC seeks to force Meta to restructure or sell parts of its business including Instagram and WhatsApp,” the article states.
According to The Verge, Zuckerberg has argued that Meta operates in a competitive environment and that the FTC’s market definition is too narrow, failing to consider the broader entertainment and communication services consumers use.
“Our acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were reviewed and approved by regulators, and they have benefited consumers,” Zuckerberg said.
Experts estimate that more than half of Meta’s advertising revenue in the U.S. comes from Instagram.
“Losing Instagram would be a devastating blow to Meta. It would also severely damage its future user and revenue growth prospects,” said Jasmine Enberg, a principal analyst at research firm Emarketer.
Meta’s chief legal officer, Jennifer Newstead, added that the case could have a chilling effect on investment in technology.
“It’s absurd that the FTC is trying to break up a great American company at the same time the Administration is trying to save Chinese-owned TikTok,” she said.
The trial, which began on Monday, April 14, is expected to reveal how seriously the new Trump administration plans to take on tech giants.
“The ramifications of this trial coupled with TikTok’s future in limbo potentially puts the very core of the social media market at play. No longer would Meta be its centre of gravity. We haven’t seen anything like this since around 2006-2011 – social media’s earliest days. We’d likely see a renaissance of social media startups looking to grab a piece of new social media world order,” said Mike Proulx, VP of research at Forrester.
The case was originally filed in 2020 during Trump’s first term. Now, in his second presidency, Meta has made repeated efforts to align with the administration — including rolling back content moderation policies criticized by Republicans and donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. Zuckerberg has also visited the White House several times in recent weeks.
The trial is expected to last until July. If the FTC wins, it must then prove that remedies such as forcing Meta to sell Instagram or WhatsApp would genuinely restore competition.
Read also: Mark Zuckerberg announces new restrictions for teenagers on Instagram
