Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand
âYour honor, the FTC calls Mark Zuckerberg.â
Flanked by two bodyguards, Metaâs CEO solemnly strode into a Washington, DC courtroom. Despite his last-ditch efforts to avoid a trial, he was there, jaw clenched, to defend his company from being broken up by the US government.
Shortly after he was sworn in, the Federal Trade Commissionâs lead attorney for the case, Daniel Matheson, asked Zuckerberg to reflect back on when Facebook was the underdog.
âIn hindsight, youâre glad you didnât sell to MySpace?â Matheson asked.
âYes,â Zuckerberg responded.
Over the next several hours of questioning, Matheson walked Zuckerberg down memory lane to the period just before Facebookâs $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012, which the FTC claims was the first in a series of anti-competitive steps that locked out other companies. In a lawsuit that was initially filed five years ago and went to trial this week, the agency argues that Meta should be forced to spin off both Instagram and WhatsApp, which it later acquired for roughly $19 billion in 2014.
While on the stand, Zuckerberg seemed to slowly relax as he recounted major moments from Facebookâs early history, …
