Meta goes to trial over its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp

• On Monday, one of the most highly consequential antitrust trials in years begins in Washington.
• In Federal Trade Commission v. Meta Platforms, the FTC says the social media giant boxed out competitors.
• Meta argues that it is a source of innovation and has not violated US antitrust laws.

Meta is set to face off against the Federal Trade Commission on Monday in what could be one of the most consequential antitrust trials in years.

The FTC's case against Meta comes after a yearslong probe into whether the social media behemoth violated US competition laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp.

In the trial, FTC regulators want to force Meta to spin off the two services. If it succeeds, it would be a major blow to Meta's business. Instagram and WhatsApp both have over 2 billion active users, according to the latest available data from those companies.

Attorneys for the FTC and Meta will offer their opening statements before Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a trial that begins today and is expected to last seven to eight weeks.

The government plans to call Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to the witness stand, along with Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram.

The FTC argues that Meta's 2012 acquisition of Instagram and its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp were intended to box out competition and dominate the social media sphere. The government says these acquisitions were part of Meta's "buy or bury" plan to maintain market dominance.

Regulators say Meta's business strategy breaches existing antitrust laws, and the FTC is hoping to force Meta to divest both Instagram and WhatsApp to ease the company's grip on the industry and afford smaller companies the opportunities to attract more users and potential advertising dollars.

Meta argues that the company has been a fair actor and a beacon of innovation in the social media marketplace.

"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," Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said in a statement. "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 case first began at the end of President Donald Trump's first term in 2020 and forged ahead under former President Joe Biden's antitrust team.

The dynamic between Trump and Zuckerberg has shifted demonstrably since 2020, however.

After the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Trump railed against Meta's decision to "indefinitely" suspend his Facebook account. In January 2023, Meta reinstated Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts, and in July 2024, the company lifted "heightened suspension penalties" that had also been in place.

In the 2024 election cycle, Trump gained increased political influence within Silicon Valley. After Trump won a second term in November 2024, Zuckerberg quickly congratulated him on his victory.

Meta also donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, and Zuckerberg was a high-profile guest at the president's January 2025 inauguration. The Meta CEO has visited the White House multiple times since Trump began his second term.