Meta could be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp as anti-trust case begins today

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta could be forced to sell off social media platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp. That is if the court agrees with an antitrust case set to begin on Monday. The case, filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleged that Meta, which already owned Facebook, bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition and give itself a monopoly.

While Meta’s acquisition of both platforms was approved by the U.S. competition and consumer watchdog, the agency was committed to monitoring the effect. If the FTC wins the case, Meta would be forced to sell off the two social media platforms. 

However, Meta is confident of victory with an argument that Instagram users have had a better experience since it was taken over. 

“The [FTC’s] argument is the acquisition of Instagram was a way of neutralizing this rising competitive threat to Facebook,” says Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a professor of antitrust at Vanderbilt Law School.

Allensworth noted that Zuckerberg’s words may offer the most convincing evidence and could also argue at the trial that intent is not particularly relevant in an antitrust case.

“He said it’s better to buy than to compete. It’s hard to get more literal than that. They’re going to say the real question is: are consumers better off as a result of this merger? They’ll put on a lot of evidence that Instagram became what it is today because it benefited from being owned by Facebook.” Ms Allensworth says.

Zuckerberg and the company’s former chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, are expected to testify in the several-week trial.

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While the case was originally filed during US President Donald Trump’s first administration, there are reports that Zuckerberg has lobbied Trump in person to have the FTC drop the case.

A Meta spokesperson responded to the BBC that the FTC’s lawsuit against Meta “defies reality.”

“More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the commission’s action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final,” the spokesperson said. 

Meta, in a statement, said the evidence at trial “will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage, and many others.”

FTC vs Meta: Possible politics play

Following the recent familiarization between Meta’s Zuckerberg and Trump, there are claims that the case risks being politicized. 

The relationship between both men hasn’t always been cordial as Trump was barred from Meta’s social media platforms stemming from the US Capitol riot in January 2021. However, the relationship has been less tense in recent months. 

Meta contributed $1m to Trump’s inaugural fund and, in January, announced that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) boss Dana White, a close Trump ally, would join its board of directors. The company also announced in January that it was doing away with independent fact-checkers.

The case also carries a heavy political burden from President Trump’s end, as his move to fire two FTC commissioners in March hangs over the case.

As Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were in the minority on the five-seat commission. Until Wednesday, just two of those seats were filled, both by Republicans. Another Republican was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday. Slaughter and Bedoya – who are suing the Trump administration to be reinstated – say the move to push them out was meant to intimidate.

“The president sent a very clear signal not only to us but to Chairman Ferguson and Commissioner [Melissa] Holyoak that if they do something he doesn’t like, he could fire them too. So if they don’t want to do a favor for his political allies, they’re on the chopping block as well,” Slaughter said while raising concerns about Zuckerberg’s lobbying efforts.

When asked by BBC what he would do if the president directed him to drop a lawsuit like the one against Meta, Ferguson, who was recently appointed by Trump as FTC Chair, said he would “obey lawful orders”. 

The FTC is considered a key antitrust watchdog as it has returned hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of fraud, in addition to passing laws that ban junk fees and subscription traps.

The FTC vs Meta case comes amid the U.S. vs Google case, where the Department of Justice (DoJ) claimed that Google illegally monopolized its search engine market. The DoJ won the first phase of that case when Judge Amit Mehta found that Google holds a monopoly in online search, with a market share of around 90 per cent. Google could sell its Chrome browser for $20 billion if it eventually loses the case. 

Experts said that FTC’s case against Meta might be a tougher scenario as they have a long road before any consideration of divestiture of Instagram or WhatsApp is considered. That’s because compared to online search, there’s more competition in the social media network services space that Meta operates in.