Mark Zuckerberg again in the American Court amid a payment to dismantle dead Social media

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The last time that the US Federal Trade Committee (FTC) was able to dismantle a major company for more than four decades, with AT & T division.

The anti -monopoly case against Meta – the parent company for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – was launched in Washington, DC, the United States.

Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes the position for the second day in a row today. The prominent situation is accused of Meta of Instagram and WhatsApp before they become competitors.

The lawsuit is the culmination of nearly six years in whether the social media giant has broke the American competition laws to obtain Instagram and WhatsApp. On the test is the future of the 1.4 trillion dollar advertising and the possibility of having to overcome its popular services significantly in separate companies.

Zuckerberg takes the political strategy

The trial of the Federal Court in Washington was shattered Zuckerberg hopes to return From US President Donald Trump to the White House, the government will witness that the anti -monopoly law against large technology. Zuckerberg, the third most dangerous person in the world, made repeated visits to the White House while trying to persuade the president to choose the settlement instead of trial trial.

As part of his efforts to pressure, Zuckerberg contributed to the Trump inauguration fund and repairing moderate content policies. He also bought a $ 23 million palace in Washington, while he was seen as an attempt to spend more time near the Center for Political Authority.

However, the US Federal Trade Committee (FTC) showed no interest in abandoning its payment against Meta. Andrew Ferguson, Chairman of the Tram’s FTC Board of Directors, said in an interview with Fox Business that the agency will not let the mita -like monopoly arises again. Ferguson batch is not far from the previous one FTC President, Lynn Khan, It is known that former US President Joe Biden was difficult for great technology.

The case can see that the Facebook owner is forced to strip Instagram and WhatsApp, which have grown to become world powers since the acquisitions.

The lawsuit was originally filed in December 2020During the first Trump administration, and all the eyes were on whether the Republican President, upon his return to the White House, would ask FTC to fall.

More than a decade of acquisitions

Suitable to buy Instagram on Facebook 2012 from Facebook-then a small but promising image exchange, which includes two billion active users.

An e -mail from Zuckerberg showed that FTC cited the appearance of Instagram as “really scary” and I add that “why we might want to think about paying a lot of money for this.”

Documentation boxes are seen inside a car after the first day of the historical historical experience to combat monopoly on the intentions of the CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg in obtaining Instagram, at Barrett Brityman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
The document funds related to the Meta acquisition arrived on the first day of a historic trial to combat monopoly in Washington, DC, Monday, April 14, 2025 (Nathan Howard /AP Photo)

On his first day of his testimony on Monday, Zuckerberg reduced these exchanges as an early conversation before Instagram plans met.

But FTC argues that the WhatsApp acquisition of $ 19 billion in 2014 followed the same style, with Zuckerberg’s fear that the messaging application can turn into a social network or be purchased by a competitor.

Meta defense lawyers contradict that major investments have transformed these acquisitions to the films they are today.

They also highlight that Meta applications are free for users and face fierce competition.

“They have decided that the competition is very difficult and it will be easier to buy their competitors instead of competing with them,” FTC Lawyer Daniel Mathison said in the opening notes on Monday.

Dead pays the back

Meta Mark Hansen’s lawyer said at his first Salvo that “the acquisitions to improve and develop a acquired company” is not illegal in the United States, saying that this is what Facebook did.

The main part of the courtroom battle will be how to define FTC Meta Market.

The United States government argues that Facebook and Instagram are among the dominant players in applications that provide a way to communicate with family and friends, a category that does not include Tiktok and YouTube.

But dead do not agree.

“The evidence will appear in the trial of what every 17 -year -old child knows: Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp with Tiktok, YouTube, X, IMessage and many more,” said Reuters spokesman.

If FTC eventually succeeded in its efforts to dismantle Meta, this will be the first time in 40 years that the agency had forced the disintegration of companies. In the early eighties of the last century, FTC forced the AT & T wireless telecommunications company to separate.



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