Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand

“Your honor, the FTC calls Mark Zuckerberg.” 

Flanked by 2 bodyguards, Meta’s CEO solemnly strode into a Washington, DC courtroom. Despite his last-ditch efforts to debar a trial, helium was there, jaw clenched, to support his institution from being breached up by the US government.

Shortly aft helium was sworn in, the Federal Trade Commission’s pb lawyer for the case, Daniel Matheson, asked Zuckerberg to bespeak backmost connected erstwhile Facebook was the underdog.

“In hindsight, you’re gladsome you didn’t merchantability to MySpace?” Matheson asked. 

“Yes,” Zuckerberg responded.

Over the adjacent respective hours of questioning, Matheson walked Zuckerberg down representation lane to the play conscionable earlier Facebook’s $1 cardinal acquisition of Instagram successful 2012, which the FTC claims was the archetypal successful a bid of anti-competitive steps that locked retired different companies. In a suit that was initially filed 5 years agone and went to proceedings this week, the bureau argues that Meta should beryllium forced to rotation disconnected some Instagram and WhatsApp, which it aboriginal acquired for astir $19 cardinal successful 2014. 

While connected the stand, Zuckerberg seemed to dilatory unbend arsenic helium recounted large moments from Facebook’s aboriginal history, …

Read the afloat communicative astatine The Verge.