“Your honor, the FTC calls Mark Zuckerberg.”
Flanked by two bodyguards, Meta’s CEO solemnly strode into a Washington, DC courtroom. Despite his last-ditch efforts to avoid this trial, he was there, jaw clenched, to defend his company from potential break-up by the US government.
Shortly after being sworn in, the Federal Trade Commission’s lead attorney for the case, Daniel Matheson, asked Zuckerberg to reflect on the days when Facebook was considered the underdog.
“In hindsight, you’re glad you didn’t sell to MySpace?” Matheson inquired.
“Yes,” Zuckerberg replied.
Over the course of several hours of questioning, Matheson guided Zuckerberg through his memories, particularly focusing on the prelude to Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012. The FTC claims this acquisition marked the beginning of a series of anti-competitive actions that effectively shut out rival companies. In a lawsuit filed five years ago and now in trial, the agency argues that Meta should be required to spin off both Instagram and WhatsApp, which was acquired for approximately $19 billion in 2014.
While on the stand, Zuckerberg appeared to gradually relax as he reminisced about significant moments from Facebook’s early history, …
