• Mark Zuckerberg testifies in US antitrust trial regarding Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
• Zuckerberg admits he bought Instagram due to its superior camera technology.
• The FTC argues Meta engaged in a "buy or bury" strategy to eliminate competition.
• The trial could force Meta to divest its profitable assets Instagram and WhatsApp.
• Zuckerberg acknowledges challenges in building competitive apps within Meta.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a key concession at a US antitrust trial on Tuesday, stating he acquired Instagram because it had a “better” camera than what his company was developing for its flagship app Facebook at that time. This admission appears to bolster allegations by US antitrust enforcers that Meta utilized a “buy or bury” strategy to eliminate potential rivals and maintain an illegal monopoly, according to court proceedings in Washington, where the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking to unwind Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, which are deemed vital assets for the company according to Dawn.

During his testimony, Zuckerberg explained that Meta conducted a "build vs. buy analysis" while attempting to develop a camera app, reasoning that Instagram's superior product made acquisition a preferable option. He stated, "I thought that Instagram was better at that, so I thought it was better to buy them." Furthermore, Zuckerberg admitted that many attempts at building new apps within Meta had ultimately failed, indicating that “building a new app is hard,” adding that most of the company’s past endeavors did not gain enough traction, as reported by Dawn.

This trial represents a significant phase in asserting claims against Meta, with the FTC arguing that the company's acquisitions have deeply entrenched its monopoly over social media platforms used for personal networking. As part of its strategy, the FTC contends that Meta has suppressed competition, a point that Zuckerberg faces with his statement from a 2008 email claiming, "It is better to buy than compete," which the FTC is using to illustrate intent, according to information from Dawn.

The FTC also emphasizes that Meta maintains a monopoly on platforms intended for sharing content among friends and family, suggesting that its competition primarily comes from apps like Snap’s Snapchat and MeWe, a smaller privacy-centric platform that emerged in 2016, thus excluding larger players like TikTok and YouTube from the assessment of market competition. The FTC argues that the existence of these platforms exemplifies a failure to consider a diverse competitive landscape, as elucidated by Dawn.