During Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in a Washington, DC courthouse, he expressed satisfaction with Meta’s acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, stating he would make the same decision again. The Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit aims to reverse these acquisitions, arguing that they were made to eliminate competition rather than improve the services. Zuckerberg refuted this claim, emphasizing that both WhatsApp and Instagram were enhanced under Meta’s ownership. He highlighted WhatsApp’s growth to nearly 3 billion users and Meta’s annual revenue of $10 billion from ads linked to businesses on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Additionally, he discussed Instagram’s expansion from 10 million users at acquisition to over 2 billion today. Zuckerberg argued that these acquisitions were strategic investments that exceeded expectations, not monopolistic maneuvers.
— new from The Verge
