He continues his testimony in a Washington federal court today, where her parent company began Monday, who is accused of buying applications and, to stifle competition.
Despite the efforts of the wealthy businessman of high technology to avoid the trial, he was the first to be summoned as a witness. Yesterday, you deposited for three hours, describing the early years of Facebook and today he will be asked to answer court questions. His lawyers attempted to show that the two applications have not always been dominant in the market, but were necessary, only thanks to Meta’s investments.
The case arrived in court five years after the appeal against Meta, which was filed during the first term of President Donald Trump. If the social media colossus loses, it may be forced to leave its two emblematic platforms.
The ‘strategic’ moves that led to the categories
The trial is a disappointment for Mark Zuckerberg, who approached the new Trump government, hoping that he would achieve a friendly settlement and avoid an eight -week hearing before a federal court.
The Consumer Protection Service (FTC) believes that Meta, who then brought the facebook name, abused its dominant market position when it acquired Instagram in 2012, for $ 1 billion. The Whatsapp market followed in 2014, compared to $ 19 billion.
Meta “decided that the competition was very tough and it would be easier to buy its competitors instead of competing with them,” FTC legal spokesman Daniel Matheson told his inaugural speech. The aim was to “eliminate the immediate threats,” he said.
Lawyer Mark Hansen, who represents Meta, replied that the acquisitions aimed at “progressing and improving companies, were never illegal”, describing the “success” for consumers in the market for the two companies.
The other… suspicious
The recourse to the Menlo Park Group is one of the five major cases launched by the US government in recent years in the field of technology. Last August, Google was found guilty of abusing its dominant position in the online search market, while Apple and Amazon are also confronted with trials.
Zuckerberg was asked, on the first day of the trial, about whether he was worried about the fact that Instagram was gaining ground since his creation, while Facebook had difficulty developing his own photo sharing service – a platform that never worked. The FTC presented internal emails dating from 2011 and 2012, before the acquisition of the then Instagram.
“Instagram’s possible impact is truly frightening, and we should consider paying a lot of money,” the Facebook founder had then written.
Today, Instagram has 2 billion users around the world. A success that Meta’s lawyers attribute to the investment made by the group.
