Zuckerberg Testifies in FTC Antitrust Trial, Admits He Once Considered Spinning Off Instagram
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week took the stand in a pivotal antitrust trial brought against the company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), defending Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The case could determine whether Meta will be forced to separate from the two platforms, which regulators argue were acquired to neutralize competition.
During over 10 hours of testimony, Zuckerberg pushed back on the allegation that Meta has built an illegal monopoly in the social networking space. However, court documents revealed that Zuckerberg once considered voluntarily spinning off Instagram amid rising scrutiny of Big Tech.
Internal Concerns Over Future of Instagram
In a 2018 email presented in court, Zuckerberg expressed concerns that growing public calls to dismantle large tech firms could force Meta to part with some of its biggest assets within a decade. He suggested that splitting off Instagram might actually benefit both the platform and Meta, writing that many companies tend to “perform better after they’ve been split up.”
Despite the warning, Meta chose to retain ownership of both Instagram and WhatsApp, acquisitions now at the center of the FTC’s antitrust case.
Fear of Competition Drove Acquisitions
The trial also spotlighted internal communications that show Zuckerberg and other Meta executives viewed Instagram and WhatsApp as significant threats prior to acquiring them.
In a 2011 email, Zuckerberg acknowledged that Instagram had become a “viable competitor” to Facebook’s now-defunct Camera app. By 2012, the social media giant had acquired Instagram for $1 billion. Similarly, court documents show that WhatsApp’s growth alarmed Facebook executives, who worried that the messaging service could develop features that would rival Facebook’s core offerings. The company moved quickly and bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014.
Despite this, Zuckerberg told the court he doubted WhatsApp would ever become a direct competitor and claimed that Meta’s acquisition improved the app’s functionality and user experience.
Changing Social Media Habits
Zuckerberg also addressed changing user behavior on Facebook. According to him, people are sharing less with friends on public feeds, and the rate at which users add new friends is declining. Instead, private messaging among small groups or individuals has seen rapid growth, he said.
“The amount that people are sharing with friends on Facebook has been declining,” he admitted. “Messaging has been growing dramatically.”
These shifts pose a challenge to the FTC’s case, which argues that Meta maintains dominance through traditional social networking, even as user engagement trends change.
YouTube a Key Rival
When asked about Meta’s biggest competitors, Zuckerberg pointed to Google’s YouTube, which continues to attract younger users and content creators. He acknowledged that users now spend more time on YouTube than on Facebook or Instagram.
“YouTube is the most competitive for creators,” Zuckerberg said, citing the platform’s dominance in video content and its strong appeal to the under-25 demographic.
The trial continues, with Meta facing the possibility of being compelled to divest from Instagram and WhatsApp – two of its most valuable assets – depending on the court’s ruling.
