Overview

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken the stand in a Washington federal court as the FTC's antitrust trial against the company continues into its second day.
• The FTC alleges that Meta's acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 were part of a 'buy or bury' strategy to eliminate competition and maintain a monopoly in personal social networking.
• Meta argues that the acquisitions were approved by regulators at the time and have since spurred innovation and benefited consumers, while also emphasizing competition from platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
• Internal communications presented by the FTC suggest Zuckerberg viewed Instagram and WhatsApp as competitive threats, with emails describing Instagram's rapid growth as 'scary.'
• If the FTC prevails, Meta could be forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, a move that would significantly impact the company's advertising revenue and market dominance.