At the trial of all risks for Meta, Zuckerberg already known as to the bar | EUROtoday
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
C‘is the trial that makes the large of Silicon Valley tremble. The showdown between Meta and the American competitors gendarme (FTC) began in Washington this Monday, April 14. The American authorities accuses the corporate of getting illegally killed competitors within the egg by shopping for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 – transactions nevertheless approved by the FTC on the time. While the debates should final nearly two months, the federal government attorneys haven’t waste of time: barely the opening declarations completed, they known as to the bar their “Star Witness” (most important witness): Mark Zuckerberg.
In a darkish swimsuit and lightweight blue tie, the third richest man on this planet managed to flee the photographers by avoiding borrowing the primary entrance to the Washington courtroom, situated a stone’s throw from the Capitol.
“Buy or bury”
At the opening, an FTC lawyer accused Mark Zuckerberg of getting put in “barriers to the entrance which, for more than a decade, protected the dominant position of Meta”. The authorities talks a few “Buy or Bury” technique: “Buy or burying” any younger shoot that might change into a hazard later. And to cite a 2008 electronic mail wherein Zuckerberg, then 24, wrote: “Better to buy than compete. And a second, presented by the accusation as the “tuxedo Gun”, wrote in February 2012, just before the acquisition of Instagram, which the manager considered essential to “neutralize a potential competitor”.
Read too Can Meta lose Instagram and WhatsApp? The trial that worries ZuckerbergThe FTC had however given the green light to the two takeover. But the government explains in substance that at the time, Facebook was not honest in its intentions and that the state of competition today justifies its action. “Attention focuses on market development, not just what it was in 2012 or 2014 when Facebook bought these companies,” said Anupam Chander, professor of new technologies at Georgetown University.
A contested market definition
As in any antitrust trial, a large part of the battle is played out on the definition of the market on which a company is accused of having abused a monopoly position. The US government limits it here to a “personal social networks” market. Anupam Chander deciphers: “This trial will likely be harshly disputed. The FTC maintains that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are a part of the identical social media market, the place customers are tiering hyperlinks with their associates. Meta will argue that the largest menace to Facebook immediately is Tiktok, which captures each the creators’ publications and the eye of the customers. One may additionally suppose that Apple’sime is a direct competitor of WhatsApp. »»
At the helm, Mark Zuckerberg relied on a graph displaying that when Tiktok was prohibited within the United States for a number of hours earlier than Donald Trump intervened, final January, visitors on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube elevated by 14 to twenty %. An indication, in keeping with Meta, that these platforms are a part of a extremely aggressive interconnected market. Before the listening to, decide Boasberg had additionally expressed doubts in regards to the shut definition of the federal government, whereas authorizing the holding of a trial.
Read too Masculinity, freedom of expression: why Mark Zuckerberg Vire TrumpistMark Zuckerberg barely had time to get to the center of the matter on Monday. However, he defended his former emails. In explicit one from February 2012, wherein he justified “not killing Instagram” to stop customers from “hate” Facebook. Finally, it was his competing home, Camera, that Facebook selected to bury later.
A extremely political trial
To uncover
The kangaroo of the day
Answer
According to the FTC, one of many potential treatments – which will likely be debated in a second step if Meta is discovered responsible of getting violated antitrust legal guidelines – might be to drive a sale of Instagram and Whatsapp. A catastrophe state of affairs for the corporate, whereas Instagram generates, in keeping with estimates, about half of Meta’s promoting revenues within the United States. “Meta will argue that, if the FTC won the case, a government green light for a merger today could become meaningless in ten years if the company from the merger is very successful. For example, the FTC does not seek to cancel the acquisition by Facebook of the pioneer of virtual reality Oculus, but it could do so in the future if virtual socialization were to popularize, ”analyzes Anupam Chander.
Read too Why Zuckerberg makes allegiance to Trump and MuskChance of the legal draw, it is Judge James Boasberg, Donald Trump bane, who chairs this trial without jury. It was he who issued a provisional injunction prohibiting the deportations of Venezuelans suspected of belonging to a gang. The shadow of the American president also hovers on the hearing: the complaint of the FTC dates from the last months of his presidency, in 2020. Since his victory, Mark Zuckerberg courtes him tirelessly. He dined in Mar-A-Lago, gave a million dollars to the inauguration presidential fund, put an end to the fact-check of third-party organizations and made a refocusing of his platforms, too influenced, according to him, by “Woke insurance policies”. The reality stays that for the second, its seduction operation has not satisfied the Trump administration to cancel the proceedings or negotiate an amicable settlement.
https://www.lepoint.fr/high-tech-internet/au-proces-de-tous-les-dangers-pour-meta-zuckerberg-deja-appele-a-la-barre-15-04-2025-2587325_47.php