Meta’s Antitrust Trial Begins as FTC Argues Company Built Social Media Monopoly

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMark Zuckerberg Takes Stand to Defend Meta Against Antitrust SuitMr. Zuckerberg went to court on Monday in a trial focused on his social media company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The case could reshape Meta’s business.The Federal Trade Commission opened its first antitrust trial under the Trump administration by arguing that Meta’s purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp deprived consumers of other social networking options.Credit…Eric Lee/The New York TimesApril 14, 2025Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, took the witness stand on Monday to defend his social media empire in a landmark antitrust trial that could dismantle a company that has transformed how the world connects online.In a packed courthouse in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission presented Mr. Zuckerberg with a binder full of dated emails and internal communications about his acquisition strategy, pushing him to defend his words. The government has contended that Meta illegally cemented a social media monopoly by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp when they were tiny start-ups, combining them into the same company, which was then known as Facebook.“I view this all as relatively early thinking,” Mr. Zuckerberg said about an email he wrote in February
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