If it looks, behaves, buys and copies like a monopoly, it’s because Meta is a monopoly

Meta’s ongoing antitrust trial over its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp is more than just a legal case: at stake is the integrity of the US judicial system and the credibility of how it deals with Big Tech.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accuses Meta of having created an illegal monopoly by buying these two platforms so as to control the market, a strategy that, according to the agency, has stifled innovation and harmed consumers.

The evidence is damning. In 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion, and in 2014 it bought WhatsApp for $19 billion. Both acquisitions were approved at the time, but are now under scrutiny. Internal documents from Meta reveal a deliberate strategy of “buying or burying” the competition. In fact, in a 2008 email, Mark Zuckerberg told his team that “it’s better to buy than to compete”, which clearly encapsulates the company’s business philosophy.

Meta’s cynical claim is that the social media market is by nature “highly competitive”, citing the existence of platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. In turn, the FTC argues that these platforms are not direct substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, as they do not offer the same personal communication features. Meta’s defense has also resorted to using supposedly…