Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone.
Lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission and META will be delivering opening statements today in a trial that's expected to last two months.
META CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Sandberg are set to take the witness stand,
and PR's Bobby Allen has details.
The case is centered on whether META's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp violated competition laws.
Years before the purchase, Zuckerberg wrote in an internal email, quote, it is better to buy than compete.
The FTC says META became dominant only after competing unfairly to box out rivals and should be forced to break up Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies.
META says regulators approved the takeover of Instagram and WhatsApp more than a decade ago and
that the FTC is punishing META for its success.
Dozens of witnesses will testify under oath, including Zuckerberg, who is expected to take the stand for seven hours.
Zuckerberg has lobbied the Trump administration for the case to be dropped.
It was originally filed during Trump's first term.
Bobby Allen in PR News.
President Trump says he expects a tariff eventually will be levied on semiconductors.
He spoke to reporters on Air Force One returning to Washington from Mar-a-Lago.
But the tariffs will be in place in the not distant future because as you know,
like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles,
like we did with aluminum, which are now fully on,
we'll be doing that with semiconductors, with chips, and numerous other things.
And that'll take place in the very near future.