According to Reuters, Facebook parent company Meta will face a high-impact trial in Washington starting on Monday. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Meta of building an illegal social media monopoly through its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. In this case, the FTC sought to ask the court to undo the transactions.
FTC wants to break up Meta
The FTC said the two acquisitions, made more than a decade ago, were intended to eliminate emerging competitors that could threaten Facebook's position as users' preferred social platform. The agency filed the lawsuit in 2020, during Trump's first presidential term.
Jennifer Newstead, Meta's chief legal officer, said in a blog post on Sunday that the case is untenable and will discourage investment in the technology industry.
“It’s simply ridiculous that the FTC is trying to break up a great American company while at the same time the U.S. government is trying to save the Chinese-owned TikTok,” Newstead said.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify, where he will answer questions about the contents of the emails. In the emails, he proposed acquiring photo-sharing app Instagram to eliminate the threat of a potential Facebook competitor, and expressed concern that encrypted messaging service WhatsApp could evolve into a social network.