Mark Zuckerberg could be forced to sell Instagram as a bombshell trial has exposed some pretty damning emails.
The Meta boss found his business in court this week as an antitrust case against the social media giant began on Monday (April 14).
The US competition and consumer watchdog is accusing Meta of illegally dominating rivals by buying up platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
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A lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Daniel Matheson, said: “They decided that competition was too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals than to compete with them.”
However, Meta’s attorney Mark Hansen has argued that the firm ‘acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to improve and grow them alongside Facebook’.
Zuckerberg is expected to testify in the trial, where he will be questioned about emails he sent.
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Yesterday, a memo sent from the Facebook co-founder in 2012 was mentioned by Matheson.
In the message, Zuckerberg talked about the importance of ‘neutralizing’ Instagram.
However, Meta denies the allegations with Hansen saying that ‘acquisitions to improve and grow’ have never been found to be unlawful ‘and they should not be found unlawful here’.
Zuckerberg appeared in court as a witness where he was faced with his own email sent in 2011 which read: “Instagram seems like it’s growing quickly.”
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A year later, the billionaire wrote in another email that the business was ‘so far behind that we don’t even understand how far behind we are... I worry that it will take us too long to catch up’.
Defending himself in court, Zuckerberg said that the emails were ‘relatively early’ discussions about buying Instagram.
He went on to say that he had wanted to purchase the app because of its camera technology.
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In a separate email sent to his chief financial officer, David Ebersman in February 2012, Zuckerberg wrote: “These businesses are nascent but the networks established, the brands are already meaningful, and if they grow to a large scale they could be very disruptive to us.
“Given that we think our own valuation is fairly aggressive and that we’re vulnerable in mobile, I’m curious if we should consider going after one or two of them. What do you think?”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg has lobbied President Donald Trump in an attempt to have the FTC case against his company dropped.
If Meta loses the case then it could force Zuckerberg to break up the business, which could mean selling Instagram.