ReutersAn antitrust case test against the social media giant Meta began in Washington on Monday.
Competition attorneys in the US and the consumer keeper say Meta illegally canceled rivals by purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp more than a decade ago.
“They decided that the competition was too difficult and it would be easier to buy their rivals than to compete with them,” said Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer Daniel Mateson.
Meta counters that the FTC case, which reviews and approves these acquisitions, is “deluded.”
Meta “acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to improve and grow them with Facebook,” the company's lawyer Mark Hansen argues.
A FTC victory can force CEO Mark Zuckerberg to divide the company.
This may include turning an Instagram photo sharing app and WhatsApp Message Service.
FTC says the company overpowered when it acquired Instagram for $ 1 billion in 2012. Two years later, she bought WhatsApp for $ 19 billion.
“The argument (FTC) is the acquisition of Instagram was a way of neutralizing this growing competitive threat to Facebook,” says Rebecca How Aransworth, Professor of Antitrust Law Law at the Vanderbilt Law.
G -Ja Aransworth says that the words of G -n Zuckerberg, including those of his emails, can offer the most convincing evidence in the process.
“He said it was better to buy than to compete. It's hard to get more bucket than it,” says Gia Aransworth.
On Monday, Mateson cited a 2012 note from Zuckerberg, in which he discussed the importance of the “neutralizing” Instagram. Mateson called the message “smoking gun”.
Meta, on the other hand, stated that the purchases made the consumer experience better.
“The acquisitions for improvement and growth” have never been found illegal, Hansen said on Monday, “and they should not be illegal here.”
The company maintains that it faces many other applications, including Tiktok, X, YouTube and Imessage.
It is expected that the company Sheril Sandberg is expected to testify in the process that can last for several weeks.
Shift
The case, the FTC V Meta, was taken during the first administration of US President Donald Trump, but is at risk of politicized during his second term.
D -n Zuckerberg lobbies personally Trump so that FTC can drop the case, According to The Wall Street JournalS
Asked by the BBC to confirm this report, Meta argued the question, but in a statement said, “FTC's court cases against Meta refute reality.”
“More than 10 years after the FTC reviews and cleared our acquisitions, the commission's action in this case sends the announcement that no deal is ever really final,” a Meta spokesman told the BBC.
Relations between G -n Zuckerberg and Trump were partly frosty because Trump was banned from Meta social media platforms after the US Revival of the United States in January 2021.
The relationship has since It was thawed somewhat.
Meta contribute $ 1 million (£ 764,400) to Trump's introductory stock and added former Trump adviser Dina Powell McCormick and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Championship Dana White, Trump's ally.
The company too declared In January, it removed independent facts check and had agreed to pay Trump $ 25 million to settle a case to stop his bills after January 6th Capitoli riots in 2021.
“A very clear message”
President Trump's relocation to fire two FTC commissioners in March also exceeds the case.
Like Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Glane and Alvaro Bedoya were in the minority in the committee for five places.
By Wednesday, only two seats were filled from these places, both from the Republicans. Another Republican was confirmed From the Senate on Thursday.
The slaughter and Bedoya – who are suing the Trump administration to be restored – they say that the move to push them was intended to intimidate.
“The president sent a very clear signal not only to us, but also to the President Ferguson and the Commissioner (Melissa) Holioac, that if they do something he does not like, he can also fire them at the BBC in a recent interview.
“So if they do not want to do a favor for his political allies, they are also in the cutting block,” Glane said.
The slaughter and Bedoya have expressed concern in the latest reports of Zuckerberg's lobbying efforts.
“I hope there is no political interference,” G -n Bedoya told the BBC.
ReutersFTC did not answer a request for a comment from BBC.
Ferguson, who was appointed chairman of FTC by Trump, recently to say The relationship he “will obey the legitimate orders” when asked what he would do if the president directed him to file a case like the one against Meta.
Ferguson added that he would be very surprised if something like this ever happened.
FTC is considered a key antitrust guard. In recent years, it has returned hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of fraud, in addition to the adoption of laws that prohibit junk fees and subscription traps.
But as the metal test begins, it is among the many independent regulatory agencies that the administration seems to be willing to take advantage.
President Ferguson is also recently quoted Confirming his belief that the independent regulatory authorities are “not good for democracy.”
“Uphill battle” on ftc
FTC V Meta begins as another major antitrust case – USA V Google – is set to introduce what is known as the drug phase.
The Ministry of Justice won the first phase of this case last summer, when Judge Amit Mehta found that Google had a monopoly in online search, with a market share of about 90%.
Last month, doj repeated A request during the Biden administration that the court violates the Google monopoly for search.
The FTC case against Meta will be more difficult to prove, says Laura Phillips-Soyer, Assistant Professor of Business Law at Georgia University.
“I think they have a real difficult battle,” Mrs. Phillips-Soeer said to FTC.
“They have a long way before you take into account any view of the Instagram or WhatsApp nebulia.”
This is because there is more competition in online demand in the space of personal network services in which Meta works, said Mrs. Phillips-Soeer.
