Zuckerberg’s antitrust testimony aired his wildest ideas in Meta’s history

Making Instagram a abstracted company. Buying Snapchat. Wiping everyone’s Facebook friends. Creating a provender of lone ads. 

These were immoderate of the ideas that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg considered implicit the years arsenic helium built his societal media empire. Over the past 2 days, helium talked astir them from the witnesser basal astatine a national courthouse successful Washington, DC, wherever Meta is warring the Federal Trade Commission connected an antitrust lawsuit that could yet necessitate it to merchantability disconnected Instagram and WhatsApp. 

Zuckerberg has truthful acold testified for astir 9 hours. He’s expected to proceed testifying connected Wednesday, followed by Sheryl Sandberg. So far, the FTC has prodded him to corroborate its mentation of the marketplace and recognize his information for acquiring nascent rivals. 

The FTC’s mentation of the lawsuit is that Meta gobbled up newer competitors by buying Instagram and WhatsApp successful the aboriginal 2010s, erstwhile it feared they would turn to situation its dominance. The bureau is trying to amusement that Meta has monopoly powerfulness successful a marketplace it calls idiosyncratic societal networking services, which is focused connected connecting with friends and household and includes the apps Snapchat and MeWe.

Meta argues that the FTC has craf …

Read the afloat communicative astatine The Verge.