FTC v. Meta: the latest from the battle over Instagram and WhatsApp | The Verge

Meta considered blocking mobile messaging app ads because it was worried about competition.In January 2013, Zuckerberg said he thought his team “should block WeChat, Kakao and Line ads. Those companies are trying to build social networks and replace us. The revenue is immaterial to us compared to any risk.” On the stand, he acknowledges that “in general we worried about them broadly competing with us … just generally becoming a direct competitor.”“A billion dollars is very expensive.”Zuckerberg concedes that in a perfect world, he probably would have preferred Facebook’s in-house Instagram competitor succeeded so he didn’t have to shell out for the app. “I guess so, yeah, $1 billion is very expensive,” he says.Settlers of Catan makes a cameo.We got a brief glance into some more casual conversation between Zuckerberg and his then-COO Sheryl Sandberg. “I want to learn settlers of catan too so we can play,” Sandberg messaged her boss in November 2012. “I can definitely teach you Settlers of Catan,” Zuckerberg replied. “It’s very easy to learn.”Zuckerberg downplays the suggestion he wanted to buy Instagram to ‘neutralize a potential competitor.’The Meta CEO is testifying about a February 2012 exchange with then-CFO David Ebersman, who said one (potentially bad)
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