{"id":2423939,"date":"2025-04-15T18:37:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T22:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ftc-grills-zuckerberg-over-meta-messages-on-purchase-of-instagram-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T18:37:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T22:37:59","slug":"ftc-grills-zuckerberg-over-meta-messages-on-purchase-of-instagram-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ftc-grills-zuckerberg-over-meta-messages-on-purchase-of-instagram-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC grills Zuckerberg over Meta messages on purchase of Instagram &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fftc-grills-zuckerberg-over-meta-messages-on-purchase-of-instagram-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2423939&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in federal court regarding his 2012 acquisition of Instagram, amidst an ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC argues that Facebook, now part of Meta, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/parler-ceo-john-matze-tells-employees-that-he-was-terminated-by-board-the-future-of-parler-is-no-longer-in-my-hands\/\" title=\"Parler CEO John Matze Tells Employees That He Was Terminated By Board: \u2018The Future Of Parler Is No Longer In My Hands\u2019\">violated antitrust laws<\/a> by purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp. During the trial, FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson scrutinized Zuckerberg&#8217;s internal messages from the time of the acquisition, suggesting that Zuckerberg was more focused on neutralizing competition than improving Instagram. zuckerberg acknowledged the purchase was part of a strategic decision to buy competitors, highlighting Instagram&#8217;s superior capabilities as a photo-sharing app.The judge in the case, James Boasberg, could potentially order Meta to divest its holdings in Instagram and whatsapp if the ruling favors the FTC.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">FTC grills Zuckerberg over internal messages regarding purchase of Instagram<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1966496\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Meta CEO&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mark-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mark Zuckerberg&nbsp;<\/a>appeared in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-courts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal court<\/a>&nbsp;in Washington, D.C., for a second day on Tuesday, testifying about his intentions for acquiring Instagram in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ftc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federal Trade Commission<\/a>&nbsp;sued Facebook, which is now under the umbrella of parent company Meta, alleging it was in violation of antitrust laws by buying both Instagram and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/immigration\/3380909\/court-showdown-trump-biden-migrant-parole\/\">Court showdown looms over Trump plan to end Biden&rsquo;s migrant parole<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3380141\/trump-officials-court-hearing-mistaken-deportation-salvadoran-prison\/\">Trump officials project defiance ahead of court hearing on man&#8217;s mistaken deportation to Salvadoran prison<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3379559\/ftc-historic-antitrust-meta-trial\/\">FTC begins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ftc-begins-historic-antitrust-trial-against-meta-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"... against ... - Washington Examiner\">historic antitrust trial<\/a> against Meta<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson pressed Zuckerberg on Tuesday over his internal message exchanges from 2012 with then-Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman regarding the $1 billion bid for Instagram.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Daniel Matheson, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg&rsquo;s intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman U.S. Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo\/Nathan Howard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;[What] I&rsquo;ve been thinking about recently is how much we should be willing to pay to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">acquire mobile app companies<\/a> like Instagram and Path that are building networks that are competitive with our own,&rdquo; Zuckerberg wrote to Ebersman, then agreeing with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tokyo-olympics-set-to-go-on-regardless-of-covid-19-pandemic\/\" title=\"Tokyo Olympics Set To Go On \u2018Regardless\u2019 Of COVID-19 Pandemic\">chief financial officer<\/a> when he said the purchase of Instagram would be a way to &ldquo;neutralize a potential competitor.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>During this time, Facebook was working on creating its own picture-sharing app known as Snap, which was stumbling. Zuckerberg said the company was considering &ldquo;buy vs. build&rdquo; strategies, ultimately deciding it made more sense to buy Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I thought that Instagram was better at that, so I thought it was better to buy them,&rdquo; Zuckerberg told the court, referencing its abilities as a camera app.<\/p>\n<p>Matheson, the FTC lawyer, told Zuckerberg that the Meta CEO&rsquo;s communications leading up to the purchase suggested he was not focused on making improvements to Instagram. Instead, Matheson said, pointing to a Zuckerberg message, he wanted the app to gain control of &ldquo;a rapidly growing, threatening new network.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure [what] the full mess of what I wrote&rdquo; was, Zuckerberg told the court. &ldquo;We probably tried building dozens of apps over the history of the company and the majority of them don&rsquo;t go anywhere.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3379559\/ftc-historic-antitrust-meta-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FTC BEGINS HISTORIC ANTITRUST TRIAL AGAINST META<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Judge James Boasberg will be ruling on the lawsuit, which is the most recent effort to rein in technology companies. Boasberg has notably<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3353353\/james-boasberg-dc-judge-impeachment-trump-immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;been the presiding judge<\/a>&nbsp;over several lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump&rsquo;s executive actions.<\/p>\n<p>A ruling in favor of the FTC could force Meta to divest itself from WhatsApp and Instagram.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1966496\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1966496\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FTC questions Zuckerberg on Instagram purchase messages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2542,"featured_media":2423940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Tech_hearing_3-1024x683.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[6945,7884,9276,4576],"class_list":["post-2423939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-ftc","tag-instagram","tag-meta","tag-zuckerberg"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Tech_hearing_3-1024x683.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2423939"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2423943,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423939\/revisions\/2423943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2423940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2423939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2423939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2423939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}