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Instagram Chief Defends Meta’s Competitive Moves in FTC Antitrust Trial

Adam Mosseri's testimony highlights TikTok's impact, creator investments, and safety challenges as Meta fights allegations of monopoly power.

Overview

  • Adam Mosseri testified that TikTok is Instagram's fiercest competitor, attributing 40% of user engagement declines, including 23% in the U.S., to the app.
  • Meta has invested 'hundreds of millions, maybe a billion or two,' in creator incentives and infrastructure to counter competition from TikTok and similar platforms.
  • Mosseri acknowledged early missteps with Instagram's Reels feature, which was relaunched as a standalone product to better compete with TikTok.
  • Internal emails revealed Mosseri's 2018 concerns over Instagram's 'woefully understaffed' safety teams, which he argued needed more resources to address content safety effectively.
  • The FTC aims to prove Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp created an illegal monopoly, seeking divestiture of both platforms in a case that could reshape Big Tech antitrust enforcement.