April 14, Editor Ma Lan) - On Monday, the landmark antitrust case against social media giant Meta by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will go to trial in Washington. If the FTC wins, Meta may be forced to divest itself of the Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.

The FTC alleges that Meta, owner of Facebook, acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition in the social media market and maintain its monopoly position.

This case could become the largest antitrust case since the breakup of AT&T's telephone monopoly over forty years ago, affecting Meta's $1.4 trillion advertising business.

The trial is expected to last seven to eight weeks, with a large number of witnesses and evidence to be reviewed. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri are all scheduled to testify.

Business or Politics?

In a piece of government-submitted evidence, an internal email from Zuckerberg in 2012 revealed that the acquisition of Instagram was intended to neutralize potential competitors. The FTC argues that this action violates U.S. antitrust law.

The FTC believes that the only way to restore competitive markets in U.S. social media is to force Meta to abandon its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The government argues that this would enable smaller social media companies to compete for users and ad revenue and weaken Meta's control over the industry.

However, Meta insists it has always competed fairly and is now being punished because of the company's success. Meta's lawyers also emphasized that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were approved by regulators more than a decade ago, meaning that any transaction in the U.S. could be overturned by the U.S. government at some point in the future.

This lawsuit has also drawn market attention due to the relationship between Zuckerberg and Trump. During Trump's first term, the U.S. government had previously sued Meta for monopolizing the market. According to reports, Zuckerberg personally lobbied Trump to have the FTC drop the charges.

However, Trump has been distant from Zuckerberg, partly due to Meta's social platforms banning Trump's account after the Capitol riot incident.

Nevertheless, on the day of the presidential inauguration ceremony, Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. Later, he also brought Trump's close ally Dana White onto Meta's board. These moves are seen as Meta's overtures to Trump.

Some people suspect that Trump might exert his political influence in this case, such as requesting the FTC to go easy on Meta if the FTC wins, which might avoid the breakup of Instagram and WhatsApp.

(By Ma Lan of Caixin Media)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493003655036752395/

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