FTC v. Meta live: the latest from the battle over Instagram and WhatsApp

The long-awaited antitrust trial between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission kicked off on April 14th. Over about two months, DC District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg is hearing arguments about whether then-Facebook illegally monopolized the market for “personal social networking services” through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

The FTC first brought the case in late 2020. While it was initially thrown out by the judge, he let an amended version move forward after the government beefed up details about why it thinks Meta is a monopoly. This phase of the trial will help the judge determine if Meta is liable for breaking antitrust law. If he finds that to be true, he’ll later rule on how those harms should be remedied. The FTC is pushing for Instagram and WhatsApp should be spun off.

This is the third US trial seeking to break up Big Tech in recent years, following the Justice Department’s two separate cases against Google over its search and ad tech businesses.

Read below for all of our updates on the FTC v. Meta case.

• Growth in Instagram’s users didn’t slow until after its first year at Meta.
• Instagram grew so rapidly its founders barely bothered tracking active users.
• Systrom recounts Instagram’s origins as Burbn.
• Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom takes the stand.
• Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom takes the stand tomorrow.
• Meta execs discussed whether WhatsApp could ‘wedge’ its way into social media.
• ‘It wasn’t obvious you could make a great return’ by paying as much as Meta did for Instagram.
• Sequoia believed it could have helped Instagram grow independently.
• ‘It was catching lightning in a bottle’ to invest in Instagram.
• Instagram investor testifies about the app’s growth before Meta’s acquisition.
• Putting ads on WhatsApp ‘was not even a discussion point’ before Meta bought it.
• Meta wanted WhatsApp to sign a ‘no shop’ agreement.
• Former Google exec testifies about the company’s attempt to buy WhatsApp.
• Meta is digging through the FTC expert’s personal blog.
• Meta is trying to discredit the FTC’s expert.
• WhatsApp could have threatened Facebook if Google acquired it.
• Judge asks why it’s ‘laughable’ that WhatsApp’s investors could force an ad model.
• WhatsApp likely would have expanded into social networking, even though its founders resisted it.
• Instagram and WhatsApp were ‘highly likely to be successful’ without Meta.
• Meta is starting its second week of trial against the FTC.
• The government doesn’t understand Meta
• Meta gets a Friday breather.
• Big Tech is back on trial
• Does Google think Meta is its competition?
• YouTube strugged with adding social features.
• The FTC calls Google’s Aaron Filner as its next witness.
• Meta didn’t overpay for WhatsApp, according to the app’s investor.
• WhatsApp’s founders ‘shot down’ suggestions of adding social features.
• Facebook considered ad-free subscriptions after the Cambridge Analytica scandal
• Sequoia tried to get WhatsApp to skirt Zuckerberg’s advances.
• Zuckerberg was ‘very concerned’ that Tencent wanted to buy WhatsApp.
• Plenty of companies were interested in WhatsApp before Facebook bought it.
• Sequoia is ‘dramatically better off’ when the startups it backs go public, rather than get acquired.
• WhatsApp investor Sequoia saw Facebook as the app’s ‘most significant threat.’
• Sandberg is done testifying.
• Meta considered a subscription model to address Cambridge Analytica backlash.
• TikTok’s rise lowered Meta’s revenue forecast.
• The FTC’s view of how Meta’s ads work ‘doesn’t make any sense.’
• Ads can be ‘as good as content.’
• Sandberg is back on the stand to kick off day four of trial.
• Zuckerberg tells court he made WhatsApp and Instagram better
• Sandberg says she was wrong about Meta paying too much for Instagram.
• Meta’s network effects hasn’t protected it from competition.
• Cambridge Analytica didn’t impact Meta’s engagement metrics.
• Meta was focused on Instagram’s quality, not its competitive impact.
• The rise of Google Plus was a ‘rallying the troops’ moment.
• Ex-COO Sheryl Sandberg takes the stand.
• Zuckerberg is done testifying.
• Zuckerberg defends his decision to put more ads on Instagram.
• Google, Apple, and Snap aren’t happy about Meta’s poorly-redacted slides
• Buying TikTok’s precursor would have been ‘too complicated’ because of its China ties.
• Zuckerberg’s testimony gives the court his vision of the future.
• Zuckerberg on buying WhatsApp: ‘I’d do it again.’
• WhatsApp’s founders had limited aspirations.
• Meta wasn’t too worried about WhatsApp becoming a rival.
• Zuckerberg can’t rule out that Instagram would have succeeded on its own.
• Instagram grew far larger than Zuckerberg ever imagined.
• Zuckerberg flatly denies that he bought Instagram to squash it.
• ‘Only the paranoid survive.’
• ChatGPT’s image generation gets a shoutout.
• AI is solving Meta’s ‘negative network effects’ problem.
• ‘I don’t like it when our competitors do better than us.’
• Zuckerberg: TikTok slowed Meta’s growth ‘dramatically.’
• Apple, Google, and Snap accuse Meta of being reckless with their confidential info.
• Zuckerberg’s wildest ideas in Meta’s history
• Meta reportedly offered $1 billion to settle the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.
• We’re done with day two of Zuckerberg’s testimony.
• Your Honor, we sell ads.
• ‘What is MeWe?’
• Zuckerberg takes an opportunity to jab the EU.
• Meta doesn’t ‘optimize directly’ for time spent on its platform.
• Meta’s antitrust trial slide redactions aren’t actually hiding anything
• The FTC is done questioning Zuckerberg for now.
• The FTC is trying to pin Zuckerberg down on its market definition.
• Mark Zuckerberg once suggested wiping all Facebook friends lists to boost usage
• Zuckerberg sees LinkedIn as competition.
• Mark Zuckerberg suggested spinning off Instagram
• Zuckerberg offered to buy Snapchat for $6 billion.
• Meta discussed having a feed that only contains ads.
• Zuckerberg’s ‘crazy idea’ to reset everyone Facebook’s friends to zero.
• People like ads, actually?
• After Snapchat turned Zuckerberg down, he worried about the rise of Stories.
• Zuckerberg: Snapchat would have grown faster with us.
• Meta was worried about early messaging apps expanding into its business.
• Meta considered blocking rival messaging app ads.
• ‘A billion dollars is very expensive.’
• Settlers of Catan makes a cameo.
• Zuckerberg downplays that he wanted to buy Instagram to ‘neutralize a potential competitor.’
• We’re here for day two of the FTC v. Meta trial.
• Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand
• Here’s how the FTC began its case against Meta.
• A slow start to the trial.
• Facebook considered keeping Instagram alive to keep ‘everyone from hating us.’
• ‘I wonder if we should consider buying Instagram.’
• Facebook had interns working on its Instagram competitor.
• Zuckerberg’s testimony trudges through years of social media history.
• “Mission accomplished.”
• Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand.
• Here are the slides Meta used to lay out its defense.
• Facebook and Instagram traffic surged when TikTok went down.
• Meta slams FTC’s ‘grab bag’ case as ‘at war with the facts, and at war with the law.’
• FTC previews evidence that Meta allegedly sought to extinguish Instagram and WhatsApp as threats.
• We’re at the courthouse where Meta is facing its existential antitrust trial.
• Meta goes to trial to avoid a breakup of Instagram and WhatsApp
• FTC chair says he’d ‘obey lawful orders’ if Trump asked to drop an antitrust case like Meta’s
• Judge says the FTC’s Meta monopoly lawsuit can go forward
• Federal court dismisses FTC’s bid to unwind Instagram from Facebook
• The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp