Meta antitrust trial kicks off in federal court

(www.axios.com)

431 points c420 | 1 comments | 14 Apr 25 13:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.208s | source

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henryfjordan ◴[14 Apr 25 19:16 UTC] No.43685057[source]▶

> "The FTC's lawsuit against Meta defies reality. 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 Chris Sgro said in a statement.

Everyone knew at the time that Facebook bought Instagram because it threatened Facebook's dominance, and hindsight shows that exactly that happened. There's a huge swath of people that dropped off FB and now use Insta, but Meta owns both. It was a great move but it was absolutely anti-competitive at the time.

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paxys ◴[14 Apr 25 20:09 UTC] No.43685767[source]▶

>>43685057 #

If everyone indeed "knew at the time" then why did the FTC allow the acquisition to go through in a 5-0 vote?

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1. arrosenberg ◴[14 Apr 25 20:56 UTC] No.43686238[source]▶

>>43685767 #

The combination of neoliberal laissez-faire economics along with how strongly tech supported President Obama's campaigns meant that the industry got to run amok for a decade. It's easily one of the biggest stains on his presidency in hindsight.

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