Washington.- Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook (renamed as Meta Platforms), presented himself to defend his company on Monday in a tribunal in Washington D.C. during the first day of the antitrust trial, a trial that could force the company to separate from Instagram and WhatsApp.
For a large segment of the day, prosecutors reviewed the history of Facebook since its launch in 2004, touching on the main theme of the trial towards the end of the day: the acquisition of Instagram first and then of WhatsApp.
The prosecution argues that Facebook acquired Instagram to eliminate a growing competitor that threatened its dominance among users.
Zuckerberg was confronted by prosecutors with emails and messages that describe the process leading up to the acquisition of the photo-sharing app.
Facebook sought to buy Instagram, mentioned the entrepreneur at the time, due to the “enormous number” of users who employed the app to share an increasing number of photos, in contrast to Facebook users who published “few photos”.
Facebook attempted to solve this situation by developing its own app for sharing photos, called Facebook Camera, but the project did not progress as quickly as expected.
“I’m worried that we’re very behind”, wrote Zuckerberg.
In another message, Zuckerberg seemed to suggest the purchase of Instagram -which Facebook acquired in 2012- to keep the app active, but without promoting developments that would strengthen its position in the market.
In one of those emails, Zuckerberg explained that in this way Facebook would avoid having “everyone” hate it for ending with Instagram while also hindering the efforts of rivals to occupy that space.
However, in response to the prosecutors’ questions, Zuckerberg claimed that Facebook did not stop the development of Instagram, while Meta’s lawyers argued that the app has been improved and has increased its number of users.
Zuckerberg also noted that the central focus of Facebook has evolved over time, from connecting friends and families, as in its early days, to being a “discovery engine” for global events.
Before Zuckerberg’s appearance, his company’s lawyers clarified that Meta does not constitute a monopoly, arguing among other reasons that Meta’s acquisitions favored competition and generated “extraordinary efficiencies” in both Instagram and WhatsApp.
It is anticipated that Zuckerberg will return to the tribunal on Tuesday to continue his testimony, which is expected to focus on the acquisitions of these two apps.
credits for the images of this post: Deultimominuto.net
