Meta Platforms on Monday defended its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp during the first day of a high-profile antitrust trail. Meta stock closed the day trading lower.
The $1.4 trillion market cap social media titan is accused by the Federal Trade Commission of abusing monopoly power to acquire photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging platform WhatsApp more than a decade ago. The FTC filed the original antitrust lawsuit in 2020, before it spent nearly five years winding through appeals and other motions in the courts.
The FTC claims the Facebook parent used an "anticompetitive acquisition strategy" to neutralize threats. The lawsuit cited a 2008 email where it says Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote its "better to buy than compete."
The FTC is seeking to compel Meta to undo the acquisitions. That would be a major blow to Meta's business. The tech giant relies on advertising revenue served most often to users of Facebook and Instagram. Meta purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19 billion two years later.
Meta Cites TikTok Competition
Zuckerberg testified Monday afternoon that around 20% of content on Facebook and 10% on Instagram is generated by users' friends, with the rest coming from accounts they follow based on interests, according to Reuters.
The increase of algorithm-driven recommendations for content on Meta's apps, as opposed to posts by friends, is part of its defense.
"It's the case that over time, the 'interest' part of that has gotten built out more than the 'friend' part," Zuckerberg said, as quoted by CNN.
The FTC says Meta has a monopoly on platforms designed to share content among friends and family. It dominates what the FTC defined in its lawsuit as "personal social-networking," where Meta's main competitor is the much smaller Snapchat, owned by Snap.
Meta counters that it is competing against a much-wider range of apps that offer similar ways for people to connect and find information that fits their interests.
"The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram competes with TikTok (and YouTube and X and many other apps)," Meta's Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead wrote blog post published Sunday.
But the FTC's complaint classifies those as either broadcasting apps or networks built around shared-interest apps rather than social connections.
Meta presented data in court Monday showing usage of Facebook and Instagram spiked during the short period TikTok was shut down by law in the U.S. in late January, before Trump intervened to bring TikTok back online.
Meta Stock: Slumping From Tariffs
On the stock market today, Meta stock fell 2.2% to close at 531.48.
The trial comes as Meta stock was already struggling to the start the year. While Meta was a top-performing stock in the S&P 500 for the past two years, shares are down 9% in 2025.
Investors are weighing concerns that tariffs could weigh on the overall economy and cause advertisers to pullback spending. Meta gained 7% last week, breaking a streak of seven consecutive weeks the stock closed lower. Meta stock jumped 15% Wednesday after Trump announced a delay for his "reciprocal" tariff plan.
