Double exposure photograph of a portrait of Mark Zuckerberg and the Meta Group logo on April 11. Photo: Vincent Feuray / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand on Monday in Meta's antitrust trial, refuting the FTC's allegations that his company illegally monopolized the social media market.
Why it matters: Meta continues to face heat from the FTC despite Zuckerberg's efforts to win favor with President Trump.
- The case could result in Meta being forced to sell WhatsApp and Instagram.
Inside the room: Zuckerberg testified for roughly 3 hours.
- The FTC drilled down on how Facebook has claimed its core value proposition is to connect people with friends and family — a goal that's also been reflected in the company's product design choices.
- Zuckerberg countered that what it means to stay connected on social media has evolved over time and so has Facebook: "It's reached a point where the vast majority of the experience is more around exploring your interests, understanding what's going on around the world, entertainment."
- The FTC showed internal documents to lay the groundwork of their case that Zuckerberg was worried about competing against Instagram's growth at a time when Facebook was struggling to transition from desktop to mobile.
Driving the news: The Meta antitrust case has been years in the making. It started during Trump's first term, continued under former President Biden, and on Monday the trial finally kicked off at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
- Zuckerberg showed up in a surprise move as he was not expected to testify on opening day.
Catch up quick: The FTC alleges that Meta's acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram in 2014 and 2012 allowed the tech giant to sustain its dominance and shut off competition.
- Meta argues it's facing plenty of competition from TikTok, YouTube, iMessage and many others.
"I wonder if we should consider buying Instagram, even if it costs ~500m. Right now they seem to have two things that we don't: a really good camera and a photo centric sharing network," Zuckerberg wrote in one email before Instagram's acquisition in 2012.
- Falling behind is "really scary and why we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this," Zuckerberg said.
- He added that "one concerning trend is that a huge number of people are using Instagram every day" and "they're only uploading some of their photos to FB."
- On the stand, Zuckerberg said he reads that email as "trying to analyze where the value is with Instagram ... with the conclusion that this could potentially be scary, but I'm not sure that I was really scared at the time."
What's next: High-profile witnesses like former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg will also testify during the trial, which is expected to last at least two months.
- Zuckerberg will be back on the stand on Tuesday.
