A document from Facebook's law firm shows how the company might fight an antitrust lawsuit and any attempts to force a divestiture of WhatsApp or Instagram
Wall Street JournalJeff Horwitz
Context & Ripple Effects
The FTC had been circling Facebook since late 2019, when sources reported it was weighing an injunction over app integration and interoperability, and EU investigators deepened their inquiry into internal documents on squashing rivals by early 2020. This law-firm document is the defense side of that arc: Facebook's playbook for fighting a lawsuit and resisting any forced breakup before the charges formally land.
It matters because the threat is no longer hypothetical — weeks later, [[a:960165|state and federal investigators moved to bring antitrust charges over the Instagram and WhatsApp purchases]], and by December the FTC filed a suit explicitly seeking to unwind both acquisitions. The document shows how Facebook intends to argue those deals were lawful when made.
First-order effects
Facebook's litigation strategy is now public knowledge, letting the FTC and state attorneys general anticipate its core defenses — likely that the acquisitions faced regulatory review and passed — before drafting their own case.
WhatsApp and Instagram, run as integrated parts of Facebook's family of apps since acquisition, become the explicit subject of breakup discussions rather than just products.
Second-order effects
If unwind pressure proves credible, every large platform acquisition gets repriced: buyers must weigh that a consummated deal can be reversed years later, chilling the exact buy-or-build strategy Facebook used.
Facebook is also going on offense, reportedly preparing an antitrust complaint against Apple over App Store rules — turning the antitrust frame into a weapon incumbents aim at each other.
Third-order effects
A successful unwind of Instagram or WhatsApp would establish that US regulators can reverse completed mergers, structurally changing M&A across the tech industry and pushing acquirers toward internal development or smaller tuck-ins.
The pattern points toward a new enforcement era where antitrust review follows deals retroactively, forcing platforms to defend integration itself — interoperability and cross-app data flows — as the contested ground.
The trend: Antitrust enforcement against Big Tech is shifting from screening future acquisitions to unwinding completed ones, with Facebook simultaneously mounting a legal defense and filing counterattacks against rivals like Apple.
As reported on @engadget, the memo basically says, “If you didn't want us to monopolize the sector, you shouldn't have allowed us to buy Whatsapp and Instagram and now that you have, it's too late, nyah.” https://www.engadget.com/... 4/
Facebook says any U.S government effort to break up Instagram and WhatsApp from the company under antitrust would defy established law, cost billions of dollars and harm consumers. https://www.wsj.com/...
@danprimack @carlquintanilla There is such an easy solution: force @Facebook to a) have a paid tier that collects zero data/has no ads, b) make the social graph portable with one click for users, c) open messenger platforms up and make them interoperable Privacy protected and com…
(WSJ) - A government effort to break up Facebook Inc. from Instagram and WhatsApp would defy established law, cost billions of dollars and harm consumers, according to a paper company lawyers have prepared in the wake of rising antitrust legal threats. $FB https://www.wsj.com/...
Lol, Facebook Legal & Communications teams just dropped a 💩 trying to confuse antitrust action coming their way this week. Sheryl Sandberg and @nick_clegg spiraling out of control as their $ and political influence has been fading for multiple years, too. Zuckerberg, worried. htt…
“A ‘breakup’ of Facebook is thus a complete nonstarter” $FB has become so powerful that it now dictates what the government can and cannot do https://www.wsj.com/...
FB says breakup would be a “complete nonstarter” ... as if theirs is the only view that matters. A breakup alone will not eliminate threat FB poses to democracy, public health, privacy, innovation, but it would be a fine place to start. h/t:@hoofnagle https://www.wsj.com/...
A document produced by company lawyers offers a preview of Facebook's defense as federal antitrust enforcers and members of Congress continue to pursue investigations into its power and competitive behavior https://www.wsj.com/...
This is Facebook saying to govt “We are the boss of you.” Silicon Velley grew up after Reagan shifted the power dynamics away from govt to the wealthy & their corporations. These companies never knew a govt that regulates & protects the public. https://www.wsj.com/...
WSJ: Sidley Austin has prepared a 14-page memo for FB arguing that a breakup of FB/Insta/WhatApp is “a complete nonstarter,” which is a good signal that a breakup is the place to start. https://www.wsj.com/...?