Mark Zuckerberg is in court defending Meta against a Federal Trade Commission case that alleges the company wields an illegal monopoly in social media. It's a trial that could force the tech giant to potentially break itself up by selling Instagram and WhatsApp. WSJ’s Dana Mattioli explains how Zuckerberg’s efforts to get close to President Donald Trump hasn’t kept the company safe, while Jan Wolfe is in D.C. court watching the play-by-play. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further Listening: - FTC Chair Lina Khan on Microsoft Merger, ChatGPT and Her Court Losses - 'The Facebook Files' from The Journal. - Why the FTC is Challenging a $25 Billion Supermarket Merger Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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This week, the billionaire CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, was on the stand in federal court. He was there to testify in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against his company.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began his testimony in one of the most highly anticipated trials in the tech world. In a blockbuster antitrust trial to defend his social media company. Meta is accused of trying to eliminate competitors.
In a trial that could break up his social media empire. The FTC is saying that Meta, formerly Facebook, is a monopoly. The case was first filed back in 2020, and it's finally gone to trial. At its heart are two acquisitions that the company made over a decade ago of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Federal Trade Commission sued Meta for being a monopoly, and they alleged that the company preyed on small competitors and bought them, took them off the market, before they could emerge as very big competitors to them.
That's our colleague Dana Mattioli, who covers tech investigations.
If the FTC succeeds, there's a possibility that Meta would have to divest these companies, which would be very unusual. I mean, it could mean that they have to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta says that the FTC's case ignores how people use technology today and that the company had legitimate business reasons for buying the platforms. This case is coming at a moment when a lot of large tech companies, like Apple and Amazon, are facing antitrust lawsuits. Just today, a federal judge ruled against Google, saying that the company acted illegally to maintain its dominance.
You know, there's been a bipartisan effort in recent years on antitrust. It's very strange. We have a very politically divisive climate we're in where Republicans and Democrats can't seem to agree on anything. But we have this movement on antitrust. to say that these companies have gotten too big, they've abused their power, and something has to happen.
And I think that that movement really does have legs, and we've seen really prominent people from both sides of the aisle support these efforts.
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