Years aft the Federal Trade Commission sued Meta successful a bid to halt acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the proceedings that volition signifier its aboriginal is yet underway. The proceedings kicked disconnected past period erstwhile CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand, and it’s expected to past respective weeks.
Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram is simply a cardinal portion of the FTC’s lawsuit against Meta. The authorities says Zuckerberg bought Instagram to neutralize it arsenic a competitor. When Instagram’s cofounder and erstwhile CEO Kevin Systrom took the stand, helium didn’t precisely support the move. While Zuckerberg had testified Meta had helped Instagram grow, Systrom testified Zuckerberg saw Instagram arsenic a “threat” to Facebook’s maturation and intentionally withheld institution resources.
Further still, Facebook’s determination to wage $1 cardinal for Instagram — an app with nary gross and conscionable a fistful of employees — seemed similar an unthinkable sum. Sheryl Sandberg thought Zuckerberg had overpaid for Instagram. In an speech betwixt the 2 from 2012, she said, “Yes, of people it’s mode excessively much.”
There are much nuggets, too. Like however Meta sees TikTok arsenic an earnest threat, however Europeans aren’t buying the ad-free subscriptions (duh), and wherefore Zuckerberg thought astir nuking users’ person lists annually to boost engagement. Read Karissa Bell’s afloat breakdown of the FTC v. Meta antitrust trial truthful far.
— Mat Smith
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