The trial to decide if Meta has to sell Instagram and WhatsApp begins this week. Here’s everything you need to know

The Trump administration’s landmark antitrust trial against Meta begins on Monday, as federal regulators accuse the social media giant of using its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp to illegally suppress competition.

If the Federal Trade Commission, which brought the suit in 2020, gets it way, Meta could have to spin the popular apps into their own companies, the first major corporate break-up of the Big Tech era and one of the most aggressive anti-trust cases in decades.

Will Mark Zuckerberg’s recent attempts to build a closer relationship with President Trump be enough to stop the worst potential impacts of the case, or will the social media landscape soon look very different? Here’s what you need to know.

In the trial, which will take place in federal court in Washington, D.C., before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, regulators plan to argue that Facebook’s purchases of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 were illegal attempts to gain monopoly control under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

Regulators have suggested they’ll point to internal documents like a 2008 email from Zuckerberg that reads “It is better to buy than compete,” and a 2012 memo describing the $1 billion Instagram deal as a means to “neutral[izing] a potential competitor.”

open image in gallery

They are also expected to call Zuckerberg and former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg to testify.

The government argues this alleged monopoly position has threatened user privacy, fair competition, and the quality of Meta’s offerings.

Meta, for its part, has pointed to how regulators approved the deals, and argues it continues to face competition across the social media landscape.

The company also claims that breaking it up will harm user privacy, given the integrated nature of the firm’s systems.

“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,” Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said in a statement to Politico. “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.”

Judge Boasberg, who has made headlines recently for presiding over a case challenging Trump’s deportation flights to El Salvador, has shown some skepticism towards the government’s arguments, rejecting an initial version of the suit in 2021.

Last year, despite a ruling denying an attempt from Meta to dismiss the case outright, the Obama appointee nonetheless noted that regulators will have to overcome “hard questions about whether its claims can hold up in the crucible of trial” and accused the federal government of positions that “at times strain this country’s creaking antitrust precedents to their limits.”

The government will be tasked with proving Meta has secured an unfair monopoly-like advantage, as well as arguing that the acquisitions of the two apps has created this dominance.

Zuckerberg and Trump have a long, tortured relationship.

Trump used Facebook to great effect during his 2016 campaign, then the Republican turned on Zuckerberg when his Facebook account was suspended after the January 6 MAGA riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Since then, Zuckerberg has slowly attempted to rebuild his rapport with Trump, reinstating Trump’s account, donating to Trump’s inauguration, appointing Trump ally Dana White to Meta’s board, and reportedly lobbying Trump in person over the antitrust case.

Still, the administration says it’s adamant about continuing the case.

“We don’t intend to take our foot off the gas,” Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson told Bloomberg last month.