The Federal Trade Commission accused social media companies of exercising their monopolies and violating Sherman laws.
WASHINGTON – Zuckerberg, CEO of social media giant meta platforms, testified in federal court on April 14 that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tried to convince a judge that his company was violating antitrust laws.
Zuckerberg appeared at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington after opening a debate accusing FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson of engaging in anti-competitive conduct that hurt consumers. This is part of a long-standing lawsuit the federal government brought against the company during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Zuckerberg submitted questions about internal and external communications, including his vision for Zuckerberg and his company. On April 14, towards the end of the first day of the trial, Matheson investigated Zuckerberg’s memories of communication leading up to Meta’s purchase Instagram in 2012, and how he handled the photo apps of his competitors in development.
US District Judge James Boasberg, who oversees the case, asked Zuckerberg to explain to him how the storyline feature on Facebook works. Zuckerberg explained that people can receive stories from individuals they follow on the platform, even if they are not friends. At one point, Zuckerberg tried to explain to Boasberg the difference between programming languages and native apps that his company mistakenly relied on.
This case can have great consequences for the social media space. In a complaint filed in 2021, the FTC sought a ruling requiring the sale of Meta assets, such as “Instagram and WhatsApp.” It lies in a series of other major antitrust actions in the US and Europe. When Meta’s trial began, Google was heading towards Washington’s antitrust relief.
A federal judge in Washington has determined that Google violated Sherman Act in the General Search Services Market. Separately, the Department of Justice told a federal judge in Virginia in 2024 that the company is liable for violating antitrust laws through its advertising technology practices. The judgment in that case has not been released yet.
Related Stories
In his opening remarks in the Meta incident, Matheson accused him of winning competition on Instagram and WhatsApp rather than competing with the company. He said the alleged monopoly of meta lacked a reasonable option for consumers to interact with people in their lives. Matheson also highlighted Facebook’s interest in connecting friends. Zuckerberg said connecting friends has become more focused on connecting people to external interests while at the heart of what the company did.
Mark Hansen, a lawyer representing Meta, said it was wrong for the FTC to assert that clients remain exclusive by obtaining Instagram and WhatsApp. The intention and effect was to benefit U.S. consumers, he said. Hansen said that consumers are benefiting from Meta’s activities and that Meta’s app quality has improved.
To argue that Meta did not act like an exclusive, he pointed out that the company did not charge anything to use its services.
Hansen also suggested that the FTC misdefined the markets involved and did not take into account the competition that Tiktok brought to the meta. He said both Tiktok and YouTube served as alternatives that people could go to instead of Meta. One of his slides showed screenshots of a video of singer Michael Jackson on Tiktok, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts, noting how similar each one is to others on his smartphone.
