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Zuckerberg may have to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp
Meta: This lawsuit started during the tenure of US President Donald Trump. In this case filed in 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Meta (then Facebook) of buying Instagram and WhatsApp with the intention of eliminating competition and illegally monopolizing social media.
Meta, a leading tech company, is on trial in an antitrust trial that may compel it to split up Instagram and WhatsApp. It acquired these two startups a decade earlier, and now these have turned into pillars of the company's largest business.
Its origin was in an era that began with the presidency of Donald Trump. During that time, in 2020, Meta (formerly Facebook) was alleged by the Federal Trade Commission to have acquired Instagram and WhatsApp with an intent to stifle competition and illegitimately monopolize social media.
According to the FTC, following Mark Zuckerberg's strategy of "buying is better than competing", Facebook bought companies that could pose a threat to it. Under this plan, first Instagram and then WhatsApp were bought.
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for about $1 billion. At that time it was a small photo-sharing app. Two years later, in 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $22 billion. Both these platforms helped Facebook become popular again among mobile users, especially among the younger generation.
