Emails from Mark Zuckerberg, revealed by the House antitrust panel, show that Facebook wanted to buy Instagram at least partly to explicitly avoid competition
Hey what's up driving to dinner … Teja Chedalla / Android Headlines : Emails Reveal Zuckerberg Neutralized Competition WithInstagram AcquisitionJack Gramenz / news.com.au : Billion dollar buy labelled ‘whoops’ Kyle Daly / Axios : House throws kitchen sink at tech CEOs Aditya Tiwari / Fossbytes : Zuckerberg Joked In 2012: “But It Will Be A While Before We Can Buy Google” Charlesarthur / The Overspill : Start Up No.1363: how Amazon screws up, Instagram's fear of Zuck's wrath, life on TheirTube … James Farrell / SiliconANGLE : Lawmakers blast big tech at antitrust hearing, but how much will change remains in doubt Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today : Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple Face Difficult Questions from House Judiciary CommitteeMatt Rosoff / CNBC : Congress grills tech CEOs amid backdrop of coronavirus and economic struggles Tweets: Casey Newton / @caseynewton : NEW: Here are the documents the House obtained about Facebook's purchase of Instagram — including Zuckerberg's discussion about “neutralizing a competitor” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... @alecstapp : A lot of hindsight bias regarding Facebook's acquisition of Instagram. Today, everyone thinks it was obvious that Instagram was going to become a huge business. But that's not what people were saying back in 2012 when Instagram had 30 million users and zero revenue. https://twitter.com/... @rmac18 : Rep Jayapal: “Do you copy your competitors?” Zuckerberg: “We've certainly adopted features...” A Facebook employee who just texted me: “We're literally copying TikTok right now.” Tim Wu / @superwuster : How FB monopolized social by buying instagram : “There are network effects around social products and a finite number of different social mechanics to invent. Once someone wins at a specific mechanic, it's difficult for others to supplant them” MZuckerberg https://www.theverge.com/... Tim Wu / @superwuster : I've been saying for years that Facebook's Instagram acquisition was a facially obvious violation of the Sherman Act. These emails prove it https://www.theverge.com/... Alyson Shontell / @ajs : If you've ever wondered how a startup founder mulls a gigantic acquisition offer in real time, these text messages between Instagram's Kevin Systom and his investor Matt Cohler are incredible reading https://judiciary.house.gov/ ... https://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : EXCLUSIVE: We have the internal Facebook emails where Zuckerberg discussed buying Instagram to “neutralize a competitor.” The emails are being discussed in the hearing now. https://www.theverge.com/... Richard Hanania / @richardhanania : This reminds me of when people complain every time Jeff Bezos makes another billion. If you think he's inevitably going to get richer and there's no risk, you can invest in Amazon stock and make money with him! https://twitter.com/... Kurt Wagner / @kurtwagner8 : Ignore Zuckerberg at your own risk... https://twitter.com/... Nicolas Petit / @competitionprof : I advise everyone to watch this. If Facebook recognised Instagram's commercial potential agst the grain, should not accept this as special case of superior foresight, business acumen and vision 1/n https://twitter.com/... @wyntermitchell : Explains why he abhors TikTok, he wants it! https://twitter.com/... @slpng_giants : This is the very definition of anticompetitive behavior. If advertisers want to know why @facebook has no respect for their requests to rid the platform of hate and disinformation, this is why. Zuckerberg knows there's almost nowhere else for them to go. #StopHateForProfit https://twitter.com/... Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom: “Will he go into destroy mode if I say no?” Investor Matt Cohler: “Probably. (and probably also if we just don't engage at all.)” https://judiciary.house.gov/ ... https://twitter.com/... Matt Rosoff / @mattrosoff : Fascinating text exchange between Kevin Systrom (Instagram founder) and Matt Cohler (investor) about selling Insta to Facebook: https://judiciary.house.gov/ ... Mike Masnick / @mmasnick : This is true. But this is also... how the tech industry has always worked. And again shows how new competition keeps popping up. https://twitter.com/... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : I am SHOCKED that gambling is going on in this venue https://twitter.com/... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : Correction @RMac18 aka The Fake Rock: COPIED https://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : I'd love to see the source material Jayapal was drawing on that says Systrom feared Zuckerberg would go into “destroy mode” if he didn't sell. I assume it's in some of the documents the subcommittee has compiled in its investigation, but I haven't seen it published anywhere. Rob Price / @robaeprice : Mark Zuckerberg argued to Congress that Facebook is not a monopoly. In 2012, Facebook boasted that it comprises “95% of all social media in the US.” https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : There it is. The loss of credibility for any of these CEOs, particularly and already Zucka @ Facebook, brings additional risk as their employee base evaluates the authenticity of their testimony. Stock rewards only go so far when democracy is at play. https://twitter.com/... Kim LaCapria / @kimlacapria : Facebook also maybe sorta did this with independent fact-checking, remember when it existed and thrived independent of Facebook's influence? and now ... https://twitter.com/... Brooke Binkowski / @brooklynmarie : Companies like these are always baffled by those who are not entirely motivated by money https://twitter.com/... Sen. Mike Gianaris / @sengianaris : Never really a doubt that #BigTech is anti-competitive but they sure are brazen about it. Time for our laws to catch up, at both federal and state levels. https://twitter.com/... Hamza Shaban / @hshaban : we have “certainly adapted features” a new clone feature brought to you by Instagram, a Facebook company. Nilay Patel / @reckless : Has Facebook ever threatened to clone a product while trying to acquire it? asks Jayapal. As Zuck starts to deny it, she reminds him he's under oath and reminds him he threatened Kevin Systrom during IG deal. Ice-cold. @protocol : The charge against Facebook is becoming increasingly clear. It's just this: You are too big. None of the details matter, because you are too big and have too much power and too much control over how people live their lives online. Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : “WhatsApp was also both a competitor and complementary,” Zuckerberg says. “They competed with us in the area of social messaging which is an important space.” Zuckerberg has now said under oath that both WhatsApp and Instagram were competitors Elizabeth Dwoskin / @lizzadwoskin : 2014 email from FB CFO describes acquisition strategy as “a land grab” Dr. Dena Grayson / @drdenagrayson : #Facebook is MUCH bigger than Bell telephone was, when it was broken up.🧐 #breakupbigtech #BreakupFacebook #DeleteFacebook https://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : Here's my favorite little detail from this story: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Emma Vigeland / @emmavigeland : Just admitting to anti-trust violations in print because he knows he'll face no consequences. Remember how railroad monopolies ended? Corporations have so thoroughly purchased our government that no one even thinks to blink at the current monopolies crushing multiple industries. https://twitter.com/... Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : “Just to clarify, when I wrote ‘neutralize a competitor’ in a discoverable medium, I certainly did not mean ‘prevent a competitor from competing with us.’” Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Zuckerberg: “One reason people underestimate the importance of watching Google is that we can likely just always buy any competitive startups. But it'll be a while before we can buy Google.” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Mishaal Rahman / @mishaalrahman : ""Google+ is a red herring,...We are getting distracted by a shitty clone while guys like Instragram and Pinterest ramp up and create new markets that we should've seen coming."" OOF Source: https://www.theverge.com/... Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Zuckerberg: “In the space of mobile photos and camera apps, which was growing, they were a competitor.” Nadler cites a document where Zuckerberg tells Facebook's CFO that they needed to buy time by buying Instagram. Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Nadler says that the documents Facebook provided showed Zuckerberg thought Instagram was a threat and wanted to buy it to quash the competition. Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Nadler says “this is exactly the type of anticompetitive acquisition that antitrust laws were intended to prevent” Cicilline says the failures of the FTC in 2012 have no bearing on whether this was a violation of antitrust laws Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : The CYA in email #4 is pretty remarkable. https://twitter.com/... Aaron Sankin / @asankin : Rep. Nadler asks Zuck about the Instagram acquisition. Nadler reads from internal emails where Zuck called IG “a threat,” “destructive,” and something that could “meaningfully hurt Facebook.” Zuck insists the $1b acquisition was mainly about building out mobile expertise. @nxthompson : That last question is a huge one. Google and Apple have huge secret data troves from Android and IOS users. Amazon from its marketplace and (maybe) AWS. Facebook has bought access to similar data. This gives them huge opportunities to identify and crush competitors. Adrianne Jeffries / @adrjeffries : Rep. Jim Jordan: “I'll just cut to the chase: big tech is out to get conservatives.” Waiting for him to tie this back to antitrust.
NEW: Here are the documents the House obtained about Facebook's purchase of Instagram — including Zuckerberg's discussion about “neutralizing a competitor” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
A lot of hindsight bias regarding Facebook's acquisition of Instagram. Today, everyone thinks it was obvious that Instagram was going to become a huge business. But that's not what people were saying back in 2012 when Instagram had 30 million users and zero revenue. https://twitt…
Rep Jayapal: “Do you copy your competitors?” Zuckerberg: “We've certainly adopted features...” A Facebook employee who just texted me: “We're literally copying TikTok right now.”
How FB monopolized social by buying instagram : “There are network effects around social products and a finite number of different social mechanics to invent. Once someone wins at a specific mechanic, it's difficult for others to supplant them” MZuckerberg https://www.theverge.co…
I've been saying for years that Facebook's Instagram acquisition was a facially obvious violation of the Sherman Act. These emails prove it https://www.theverge.com/...
If you've ever wondered how a startup founder mulls a gigantic acquisition offer in real time, these text messages between Instagram's Kevin Systom and his investor Matt Cohler are incredible reading https://judiciary.house.gov/ ... https://twitter.com/...
EXCLUSIVE: We have the internal Facebook emails where Zuckerberg discussed buying Instagram to “neutralize a competitor.” The emails are being discussed in the hearing now. https://www.theverge.com/...
This reminds me of when people complain every time Jeff Bezos makes another billion. If you think he's inevitably going to get richer and there's no risk, you can invest in Amazon stock and make money with him! https://twitter.com/...
I advise everyone to watch this. If Facebook recognised Instagram's commercial potential agst the grain, should not accept this as special case of superior foresight, business acumen and vision 1/n https://twitter.com/...
This is the very definition of anticompetitive behavior. If advertisers want to know why @facebook has no respect for their requests to rid the platform of hate and disinformation, this is why. Zuckerberg knows there's almost nowhere else for them to go. #StopHateForProfit https:…
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom: “Will he go into destroy mode if I say no?” Investor Matt Cohler: “Probably. (and probably also if we just don't engage at all.)” https://judiciary.house.gov/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Fascinating text exchange between Kevin Systrom (Instagram founder) and Matt Cohler (investor) about selling Insta to Facebook: https://judiciary.house.gov/ ...
This is true. But this is also... how the tech industry has always worked. And again shows how new competition keeps popping up. https://twitter.com/...
I'd love to see the source material Jayapal was drawing on that says Systrom feared Zuckerberg would go into “destroy mode” if he didn't sell. I assume it's in some of the documents the subcommittee has compiled in its investigation, but I haven't seen it published anywhere.
Mark Zuckerberg argued to Congress that Facebook is not a monopoly. In 2012, Facebook boasted that it comprises “95% of all social media in the US.” https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
There it is. The loss of credibility for any of these CEOs, particularly and already Zucka @ Facebook, brings additional risk as their employee base evaluates the authenticity of their testimony. Stock rewards only go so far when democracy is at play. https://twitter.com/...
Facebook also maybe sorta did this with independent fact-checking, remember when it existed and thrived independent of Facebook's influence? and now ... https://twitter.com/...
Never really a doubt that #BigTech is anti-competitive but they sure are brazen about it. Time for our laws to catch up, at both federal and state levels. https://twitter.com/...
Has Facebook ever threatened to clone a product while trying to acquire it? asks Jayapal. As Zuck starts to deny it, she reminds him he's under oath and reminds him he threatened Kevin Systrom during IG deal. Ice-cold.
The charge against Facebook is becoming increasingly clear. It's just this: You are too big. None of the details matter, because you are too big and have too much power and too much control over how people live their lives online.
“WhatsApp was also both a competitor and complementary,” Zuckerberg says. “They competed with us in the area of social messaging which is an important space.” Zuckerberg has now said under oath that both WhatsApp and Instagram were competitors
Just admitting to anti-trust violations in print because he knows he'll face no consequences. Remember how railroad monopolies ended? Corporations have so thoroughly purchased our government that no one even thinks to blink at the current monopolies crushing multiple industries. …
“Just to clarify, when I wrote ‘neutralize a competitor’ in a discoverable medium, I certainly did not mean ‘prevent a competitor from competing with us.’”
Zuckerberg: “One reason people underestimate the importance of watching Google is that we can likely just always buy any competitive startups. But it'll be a while before we can buy Google.” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
""Google+ is a red herring,...We are getting distracted by a shitty clone while guys like Instragram and Pinterest ramp up and create new markets that we should've seen coming."" OOF Source: https://www.theverge.com/...
Zuckerberg: “In the space of mobile photos and camera apps, which was growing, they were a competitor.” Nadler cites a document where Zuckerberg tells Facebook's CFO that they needed to buy time by buying Instagram.
Nadler says “this is exactly the type of anticompetitive acquisition that antitrust laws were intended to prevent” Cicilline says the failures of the FTC in 2012 have no bearing on whether this was a violation of antitrust laws
Rep. Nadler asks Zuck about the Instagram acquisition. Nadler reads from internal emails where Zuck called IG “a threat,” “destructive,” and something that could “meaningfully hurt Facebook.” Zuck insists the $1b acquisition was mainly about building out mobile expertise.
That last question is a huge one. Google and Apple have huge secret data troves from Android and IOS users. Amazon from its marketplace and (maybe) AWS. Facebook has bought access to similar data. This gives them huge opportunities to identify and crush competitors.