Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a U.S. court on Wednesday that he bought Instagram and WhatsApp because they were valuable apps, not to stop competition.
This is part of a big antitrust trial where the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accused Meta (formerly Facebook) of creating a monopoly in social media by buying its rivals.
Zuckerberg said in court, “This is my job — to understand what others are doing and push my team to move fast.” He said that buying Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 helped Facebook grow, especially on mobile phones.
The FTC, however, says Meta bought these apps to stop them from becoming future threats. They showed old emails where Zuckerberg seemed worried about Instagram’s growth. But he said those emails just showed normal business thinking and not a plan to stop competition.
Zuckerberg also said that apps like YouTube and TikTok are strong competitors and that people spend more time on YouTube than on Facebook or Instagram.
The trial is expected to last several weeks. If the court agrees with the FTC, Meta may have to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. This case is one of the biggest legal challenges ever faced by a tech company in the U.S.
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