Mark Zuckerberg called to testify on the first day of the Meta trial

Mark Zuckerberg did everything to avoid it, in vain. Meta’s trial, Facebook’s parent company accused of buying Instagram and Whatsapp to stifle potential competitors, opened on Monday April 14 in Washington.

The billionaire was called to the helm first, for a three -hour hearing centered on the beginnings of Facebook, and he will be heard again on Tuesday. His lawyers will try to show that the two services have only become essential applications thanks to investments in his group.

The case arrived in court five years after the complaint under the first Trump government. If the social networks giant loses, it could be forced to separate from its two flagship platforms. The Consumer Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), estimates that Meta, then Facebook, abused its dominant position during the acquisition of Instagram in 2012, for a billion dollars (883 million euros), and WhatsApp in 2014, for 19 billion.

Meta “Decided that competition was too rough and that it would be easier to buy your rivals rather than being in competition with them”defended in his introductory remarks the representative of the authority, Daniel Matheson, in a very garnished courtroom. It was for Meta “To eliminate immediate threats”he insisted. “Acquisitions” engaged with the will “To grow and improve bought companies have never been illegal”replied Meta’s lawyer Mark Hansen, describing the two operations as “Successes” For consumers.

Category question

The trial will last eight weeks and will be played in particular on the definition of the market concerned. For the American authority, Meta’s services fall under “Personal social networks”which allow you to stay in touch with family and friends; The other large platforms such as the very popular Tiktok and YouTube do not belong to the same category.

A prospect that the Menlo Park firm (Silicon Valley) rejects. Facilitate friendly and family relations, “This is definitely part of what we do, but this activity has not really progressed compared to other aspects”underlined Mark Zuckerberg in court. Connections with relatives “Represent a less and less part of our organization”added the founder of the Californian group. Meta’s defense will insist during the trial on the competition between its applications and their competitors, who innovate and regularly add features for “Gain user minutes of attention”.

The complaint against the Menlo Park group (California) is one of the five major antitrust actions launched in recent years by the US government in the technology sector. Google was found guilty of abuse of dominant position on the online research market last August, while Apple and Amazon are also the subject of prosecution.

“Really scary”

Mark Zuckerberg was questioned at length about his concerns in the face of the rise of Instagram from its creation, while Facebook struggled to develop its own photo application project – which will never see the light of day.

The FTC put forward internal emails dated 2011 and 2012, before the acquisition of the start-up. “The potential impact of Instagram is really scary and that is why we should consider paying a lot of money”had written the founder of Facebook. Instagram now has two billion users around the world. A success that Meta lawyers attribute to substantial investments in the group.

The FTC will try to demonstrate that Meta monopoly on the market “Personal social networks” results in degraded use for users, forced to tolerate too many advertisements and steep changes. If she won her antitrust action against Google last summer, the agency underwent several setbacks before the courts. It could not prevent the acquisition of Within by Meta and that of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. Judge James Boasberg, who will decide the case of Meta, has already warned that the authority “Go for difficult questions about the ability of his accusations to hold the road to the Court”.