Meta’s US Antitrust Trial: What You’ve Missed So Far

The FTC wants Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp to create a more level playing field in the social app market.

Meta was summoned to Washington to defend its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in a trial brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, which alleges the deals were part of a monopolistic strategy. The FTC wants Meta to divest these platforms to create a more level playing field in the social app market.

Meta, which went only by Facebook then, bought photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and messaging platform WhatsApp in 2014. It argues that the acquisitions fueled the apps’ growth and that there’s little evidence they would have evolved into viable competitors on their own.

On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg maintained that he never intended to stifle competition through acquisition, according to live reporting from The Verge. “Was the intent ...