FTC v. Meta: in opening arguments, FTC lawyers accuse Meta of a “buy-or-bury strategy” to cement a social networking monopoly by buying Instagram and WhatsApp

The tech giant went to court on Monday in an antitrust trial focused on its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

New York Times 2025-04-14

Context & Ripple Effects

The opening arguments follow a ruling that sent the FTC's breakup case to trial, moving the dispute from pleadings to a test of whether Meta's Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were exclusionary conduct.

The government's case turns on a narrowly defined social-networking market, an argument detailed in the FTC's market-definition presentation. The case later produced a Meta win that the FTC said it would appeal, underscoring how consequential market definition is to enforcement against platform acquisitions.

First-order effects

Meta must defend not only the acquisitions' outcomes but the intent alleged behind them, while the FTC must substantiate its theory that the deals protected monopoly power.
Instagram and WhatsApp become the central evidence base for a remedy that could separate them from Meta if the FTC prevails.

Second-order effects

The trial raises the evidentiary bar for future dominant-platform acquisitions: internal strategy materials and a deal's competitive rationale can become as important as the transaction's price or formal market share.
Would-be challengers and smaller social platforms gain a clearer enforcement pathway if the FTC's narrow market definition is accepted; Meta's defense emphasizes broader competitive alternatives.

Third-order effects

If courts accept after-the-fact separation as a viable antitrust remedy for consummated tech deals, platform moats built through acquisitions become more reversible and therefore less durable.
The outcome will help determine whether US platform antitrust turns on tightly bounded product markets or on broader, fast-changing competition across digital services.

The trend: This is part of a broader effort to reassess whether completed platform acquisitions entrenched incumbents and warrant structural remedies years later.

Discussion

@kyungsookl Kyung Sook on bluesky
I didn't understand why facebook suddenly reversed course, allowed DJT to return to facebook and Zuckerberg attended the inauguration. Now I understand. www.npr.org/2025/04/13/n...
@zamaan_qureshi Zamaan Qureshi on x
Let's get this started 🍿
@stockmarketnerd Brad Freeman on x
Dear FTC chairman, $META is not a monopoly. Thanks. That is all. *posted on X*
@bbenedict33 Brendan Benedict on x
One key area of focus that FTC is previewing in its opening statement in Meta breakup trial - the funders. Many contemporaneous statements from Sequoia Capital on viability of Instagram and Whatsapp. #ftcvmeta
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Seriously. Seriously. Meta/Facebook/Instagram wrote this in a press release today, “It's absurd that the FTC is trying to break up a great American company.” This is a company competing for worst reputation among the top 100 brands (Axios Harris 100).
@johnmarknewman John Mark Newman on x
If you have a second today, send some good vibes to the @FTC trial team, squaring off in court against @Meta starting today. I've had the privilege of working w/ many of them. You won't find a harder-working, smarter group of civil servants anywhere. https://www.npr.org/...
@stephenkentx Stephen Kent on x
America needs an effective FTC that watches out for monopolistic practices harming consumers, and this very dated case against Meta isn't it. https://consumerchoicecenter.org/ ...
@morningsmaria @morningsmaria on x
FTC making sure Meta-like ‘monopoly’ can ‘never arise again’: Chairman Ferguson [video]
@econliberties @econliberties on x
“Despite Meta and Mark Zuckerberg's attempts to lobby their way out of accountability, there's no stopping nearly five years of bipartisan antitrust momentum.” Trial begins today in FTC v. Meta. Statement from @LeeHepner👇 [image]
@seanspicer Sean Spicer on x
Meta (Facebook/ @finkd) in court today facing off against the FTC — breakup possible of Insta/Whatsapp Please dont let Mark's sudden faux bro play sway you https://www.cnn.com/...
@fboversight @fboversight on x
The landmark antitrust case against Meta resumes in Washington today. The US competition and consumer watchdog alleges that Meta, which already owned Facebook, bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition, effectively giving itself a monopoly.
@spectatorindex @spectatorindex on x
JUST IN: The BBC reports that a ‘landmark’ antitrust case against Meta could ‘force Zuckerberg to sell Instagram’
@edludlow Ed Ludlow on x
NEWS: FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson says that the commission thinks Meta “certainly” is a “monopoly” in an interview with Fox Business. The FTC's antitrust trial against Meta starts today in Washington D.C. Reaction in pre-market: [image]
@sylviavarnham Sylvia Varnham O'Regan on x
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson appeared on Fox this morning ahead of the Meta FTC trial, commenting that “it's important that we don't over regulate” but “2020 revealed Meta is different.”
r/technology r on reddit
Meta's antitrust trial could force Zuckerberg to sell Instagram
@wavesblog Simonetta Vezzoso on bluesky
“Ferguson and Slater were there, a person familiar with the meeting said, to stiffen Trump's spine against a relentless wave of lobbying from Meta” [embedded post]
@semaforben Ben Smith on x
Remarkable how Zuckerberg thought he'd bought his way to Trump forgiveness, then had it slip away over — in no small part — older MAGA grievances, with @mrddmia playing a big part [image]
@semaforben Ben Smith on x
So here's what this was about: [image]

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