As smartphone use surged, former U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan claimed Monday that Facebook “panicked” when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp.
“It saw companies like Instagram and WhatsApp experiencing astronomical growth, and that’s the point at which it resorted to this buy-or-bury scheme where, if it couldn’t outcompete a rival, it either bought them out or cut them off its network.”
On Monday, Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, starts a trial with the FTC.
The corporation monopolised the personal social networking sector by purchasing Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014.
Due to the trial, the social media behemoth may decide to sell up the two businesses.
In a pretrial filing, Meta has explained why it disagrees with the FTC and reiterated its belief that the company does not have a monopoly.
Source (CNBC)
