Documents revealed in a trial in Washington on Tuesday showed that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg contemplated spinning off Instagram in 2018 in preparation for a potential antitrust lawsuit. Zuckerberg acknowledged in an email that there was a “non-trivial chance” that his company would be compelled to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp anyway. He also admitted during the trial that one reason he acquired Instagram was because it had a superior camera compared to Facebook’s at the time. This admission lends credence to the US antitrust enforcers’ allegations that Meta employed a “buy or bury” strategy to eliminate potential rivals and maintain an Illegal monopoly. The trial in Washington involves the US Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to reverse Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/15/zuckerberg-meta-instagram-whatsapp-facebook