Meta Faces Landmark Antitrust Trial Over Instagram and WhatsApp Acquisitions

Last Updated Apr - 11 - 2025, 01:25 PM | Source : Fela News

Meta is set to stand trial next week as the US government, led by the FTC, challenges its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The case could force Zuckerber

Unless a last-minute deal is struck or a miraculous decision is taken, social media giant Meta is set to go on trial next week over allegations from the US government, accusing the company of its market dominance to have acquired Instagram and WhatsApp before they could become major players in the market.

The Meta case is being made by the Federal Trade Commission, the US consumer protection agency, and could potentially see Zuckerberg forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp which have become omnipresent and really powerful since their buyout.

The case was first made in 2020, during the first Trump administration and people were curious as to whether Trump would grow any softer towards big tech or not, reportedly, he hasn’t.

Zuckerberg has been making multiple lobbying efforts and visits to the White House to do a settlement rather than a full-blown trial, however, none of them have resulted in something fruitful.

“I'm not sure Trump is persuaded that Zuckerberg is worthy of redemption,” said George Hay, an antitrust law professor at Cornell Law School.

Meta’s defense will primarily argue that substantial investments transformed these acquisitions into the powerhouses they are today, bearing little to negligible resemblance to their original versions. Moreover, they’ll also argue that FTC permitted both transactions initially and shouldn’t be permitted a redo.