Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has asked a federal judge to throw out the FTC’s landmark antitrust case – in the middle of the high-stakes trial that could result in the Big Tech giant’s breakup.
The FTC rested its case on Thursday after laying out its argument that Meta illegally dominates the market for social media apps reliant on friends-and-family connections.
Meta, which will continue laying out its defense when court resumes on Monday, reiterated its claim in a court filing late Thursday that the FTC’s attorneys have incorrectly defined the market.
The company claims that it faces tough competition from the likes of TikTok, YouTube and Elon Musk’s X.
“After five weeks of trial, it is clear that the FTC has failed to meet the legal standard required under antitrust law,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement on Friday. “Regardless, we will present our case to show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram competes with TikTok (and YouTube and X and many other apps).”
An FTC representative declined to comment.
It’s the latest bid by Meta to nix the FTC case before it can play out in court.
Zuckerberg reportedly staged a failed effort to settle the case in early April before it could go to trial in the first place.
As The Post exclusively reported, Meta also contacted the Media Research Center, an influential conservative critic of Big Tech, in a “Hail Mary” plea for help swaying Republicans to its side on the eve of the trial.
The feds claim Meta acquired Instagram and WhatsApp as part of a “buy or bury” strategy to prevent them from threatening its empire.
The FTC wants US District Judge James Boasberg to force Zuckerberg to spin off the two apps.
The filing provides a clear view of Meta’s defense strategy, though there’s no guarantee that Boasberg will issue a response. He could decline to take up the issue entirely and allow the case to play out in court as scheduled.
“Meta’s acquisition of Instagram enabled massive growth – with correspondingly massive benefits for US consumers,” the filing claims.
The 10-week nonjury trial is expected to wrap up in June and will be followed by final briefs filed by both FTC and Meta. If Boasberg eventually sides with the FTC and determines Meta has a monopoly, a second trial will be held to determine appropriate remedies.
FTC attorneys have relied heavily on internal emails and documents exchanged between Zuckerberg and others to build their case.
That included a 2012 exchange in which Zuckerberg said buying Instagram would “neutralize a competitor.”
Other embarrassing evidence has also emerged, such as a 2018 email exchange in which an unnamed Instagram executive warned that “fake engagement could be in range of 40%.”
Earlier in the trial, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said he felt that Zuckerberg treated the app’s success as a “threat” to Facebook after he bought it and had starved the app of needed resources.
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