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Meta antitrust trial kicks off in federal court

(www.axios.com)
431 points c420 | 5 comments | 14 Apr 25 13:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.16s | 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]▶
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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surge ◴[14 Apr 25 20:14 UTC] No.43685818[source]▶
This is what I don't get, the FTC is suing because the FTC allowed something to happen, when the platforms had even more dominance than they do now?

Kind of stinks of less than valid motivations based on the timing of bringing this up over a decade after the fact.

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1. dylan604 ◴[14 Apr 25 21:10 UTC] No.43686372{3}[source]▶
I guess theZuck didn't donate enough to the campaign
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2. eastbound ◴[14 Apr 25 21:23 UTC] No.43686466[source]▶
The trial has to go through in all cases of bribing:

- If I’m the politician, then I need to keep the company on the edge until the end of the trial where I promise them to be acquitted;

- If I’m the CEO, I need the trial to go through and acquit me, because it guarantees me against future trials.

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3. throwanem ◴[14 Apr 25 21:29 UTC] No.43686527[source]▶
> I need the trial to go through and acquit me, because it guarantees me against future trials

On substantially identical charges, where the principle of double jeopardy holds sway.

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4. singleshot_ ◴[14 Apr 25 22:48 UTC] No.43687136{3}[source]▶
In the same jurisdiction*
5. ◴[15 Apr 25 06:59 UTC] No.43689793[source]▶