Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg testifies at landmark US antitrust trial

Meta Platforms chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg took the stand on Monday in a landmark US antitrust trial in which his social media juggernaut stands accused of abusing its market power to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp before they could become competitors.

The start of the trial in a Washington federal court dashed the hopes of Zuckerberg that the return of Donald Trump to the White House would see the government let up on the enforcement of antitrust law against Big Tech.

The Meta case is being made by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the powerful US consumer protection agency, and could see the owner of Facebook forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, which have grown into global powerhouses since their buyout.

“They decided that competition is too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals than to compete with them,” FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson said in opening remarks at the trial.

Meta lawyer Mark Hansen countered in his opening salvo that “acquisitions to improve and grow an acquired firm” are not unlawful in the United States and that is what Meta, then called Facebook, did.

The trial will be run and decided by Judge James Boasberg, who is also presiding over a high-profile case involving White House orders to deport Venezuelans without a hearing, using an obscure wartime law, on grounds they belong to dangerous gangs.

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