Meta faces historic antitrust trial that could force it to break off Instagram, WhatsApp
San Francisco, Apr 14 (AP): Meta Platforms Inc. faces a historic antitrust trial beginning Monday that could force the tech giant to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups it bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses.
The looming antitrust trial will be the first big test of President Donald Trump's Federal Trade Commission's ability to challenge Big Tech. The lawsuit was filed against Meta — then called Facebook — in 2020, during Trump's first term. It claims the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market.
Meta, the FTC argues, has maintained a monopoly by pursuing CEO Mark Zuckerberg's strategy, "expressed in 2008: It is better to buy than compete.' True to that maxim, Facebook has systematically tracked potential rivals and acquired companies that it viewed as serious competitive threats."
Facebook also enacted policies designed to make it difficult for smaller rivals to enter the market and “neutralize perceived competitive threats,” the FTC says in its complaint, just as the world shifted its attention to mobile devices from desktop computers.
“Unable to maintain its monopoly by fairly competing, the company's executives addressed the existential threat by buying up new innovators that were succeeding where Facebook failed,” the FTC says.
Facebook bought Instagram — then a scrappy photo-sharing app with no ads and a small cult following — in 2012. The $1 billion cash and stock purchase price was eye-popping at the time, though the deal's value fell to $750 million after Facebook's stock price dipped following its initial public offering in May 2012.
Instagram was the first company Facebook bought and kept running as a separate app. Up until then, Facebook was known for smaller “acqui-hires” — a type of popular Silicon Valley deal in which a company purchases a startup as a way to hire its talented workers, then shuts the acquired company down. Two years later, it did it again with the messaging app WhatsApp, which it purchased for $22 billion.
WhatsApp and Instagram helped Facebook move its business from desktop computers to mobile devices, and to remain popular with younger generations as rivals like Snapchat (which it also tried, but failed, to buy) and TikTok emerged. However, the FTC has a narrow definition of Meta's competitive market, excluding companies like TikTok, YouTube and Apple's messaging service from being considered rivals to Instagram and WhatsApp.
“The FTC already has the difficult task, whether it's looking at 10 years ago or five years ago or today, of trying to define what is the market we're talking about in a sufficiently narrow way that it can show Meta has a ton of power in that market,” said Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart. “And I do think that challenge has gotten harder as the years have gone by and we see more and more potential competitors in social media spaces.”
Meta, meanwhile, says the FTC's lawsuit “defies reality.”
“The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others. More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the Commission's action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final. Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI," the company said in a statement.
In a filing last week, Meta also stressed that the FTC “must prove that Meta has monopoly power in its claimed relevant market now, not at some time in the past." This, experts say, could also prove challenging since more competitors have emerged in the social media space in the years since the company bought WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta's fate will be decided by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who late last year denied Meta's request for a summary judgment and ruled that the case must go to trial.
Boasberg “seems to be skeptical” of the FTC's narrow market definition in his rulings to date, Swanson said. He added that the judge also said it is a “fact question," which means he is open to hearing what the FTC and its experts have to say to define that narrow market.
While the FTC may face an uphill battle in proving its case, the stakes are high for Meta, whose advertising business could be cut in half if it's forced to spin off Instagram.
“Instagram is now Meta's biggest money maker in the U.S., its most lucrative market, where the app accounts for 50.5% of the company's ad revenues in 2025. Instagram has also been picking up the slack for Facebook on the user front, particularly among young people, for a long time,” said Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg. “The trial also comes as Meta is trying to bring back OG Facebook in an effort to appeal to Gen Z and younger users as they join social media. Social media usage is far more fragmented today than it was in 2012 when Facebook acquired Instagram, and Facebook isn't where the cool college kids hang out anymore. Meta needs Instagram to continue growing, especially as more advertisers think Instagram-first with their Meta budgets.”
But Meta isn't the only technology company in the sights of federal antitrust regulators, Google and Amazon face their own cases. The remedy phase of Google's case is scheduled to begin on April 21. A federal judge declared the search giant an illegal monopoly last August.
“A big theme here is we are applying 19th-century laws to 21st-century markets. And I think it's an open question whether the judgment developments to antitrust law can keep up with markets as they are changing — these fluid and dynamic tech markets in particular,” Swanson said. “And this will be a case that speaks directly to that.”
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Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol unveil ‘DDLJ’ sculpture at London’s Leicester Square
London (PTI): Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol huddled under an umbrella on a rainy Thursday in London to unveil their bronze likeness from an iconic ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ scene.
The sculpture of the duo joins Leicester Square’s ‘Scenes in the Square’ trail depicting memorable shots from some of the world’s most famous films, with ‘DDLJ’ marking a Bollywood first and the 30th anniversary of the 1995 box-office hit. It is in this popular London square that SRK as Raj and Kajol as Simran first cross paths unknowingly.
“DDLJ was made with a pure heart. We wanted to tell a story about love, how it can bridge barriers and how the world would be a better place if it had a lot of love in it, and I think this is why 'DDLJ' has had a lasting impact for over 30 years now," said Khan.
“Personally, 'DDLJ' is part of my identity, and it is humbling to see film, and Kajol and me, receiving so much love since it was released,” he said.
He expressed his gratitude to the Heart of London Business Alliance, behind the cinematic trail at Leicester Square, for celebrating ‘DDLJ’ and “immortalising” its lead stars.
“Seeing ‘DDLJ’ become the first Indian film to be honoured in the iconic Scenes in the Square trail is an emotional moment and has brought back so many memories.
"I feel immense pride knowing the film has been embraced around the world, and I want to share this moment with the entire cast and crew of ‘DDLJ’, my friend and director Aditya Chopra and the Yash Raj Films family. This is a moment I will never forget,” added Khan.
Kajol, joined by her daughter Nysa and son Yug, posed with Khan in front of the statue as she braved the rain in a green saree.
“It’s incredible to see ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ continue to receive so much love, even 30 years later. Watching the statue being unveiled in London felt like reliving a piece of our history - a story that has truly travelled across generations,” said Kajol.
“Seeing it find its rightful place in Leicester Square, a location of such enormous significance to ‘DDLJ’, makes this moment even more special. For the film to be honoured in this way in the UK – the first Indian film to receive such recognition – is something that will forever stay in the hearts and minds of all the ‘DDLJ’ fans across the world,” she said.
Their statue, captured in a dancing pose from the hit song ‘Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna’, joins the likes of Harry Potter, Bridget Jones, Mary Poppins, and Batman in what is dubbed as an ever-growing celebration of movie magic in a square packed with multiplex cinema screens.
“When ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, DDLJ, was released 30 years ago, the film became a defining moment for Indian cinema and changed the face of the industry, capturing the hearts of everyone who saw it all over the globe," said Akshaye Widhani, CEO of Yash Raj Films.
“We’re thrilled to be the first Indian film to be represented in ‘Scenes in the Square’. It also marks 30 years of DDLJ, a film that has spread love and joy globally, and shows the cultural impact it has had in UK.
“We are honoured that our superstars and our film are being recognised on the world stage alongside the Hollywood elite, from Gene Kelly to Laurel & Hardy to Harry Potter. This statue will be a great way to express the international appeal of Indian movies and build bridges amongst communities through cinema,” he said.
Since its release in 1995, ‘DDLJ’ has become the longest-running film in Hindi cinema history.
Ros Morgan, Chief Executive at Heart of London Business Alliance, said: “We’re proud to welcome global megastars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol to our Scenes in the Square trail.
"Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is a cinematic phenomenon that has shaped generations, and London’s first tribute to Indian cinema honours a story whose magic continues to captivate audiences worldwide.”
It is a particularly special year for the film, with a musical based on the romance playing to packed houses at Manchester’s Opera House earlier this year. Aditya Chopra reprised his role as director of the English language stage production, ‘Come Fall In Love – The DDLJ Musical’, which revolved around the love story of Simran and Roger.
The script was a nod to the original as it followed Simran as a young British Indian woman who finds herself engaged to a family friend in India in an arranged marriage. However, the plot thickens when she falls in love with a British man named Roger.
