This week, the billionaire CEO of Metta, Mark Zuckerberg, was on the stand in federal court.
He was there to testify in a federal trade commission lawsuit against his company.
Metta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began his testimony in one of the most highly anticipated trials in the tech world.
Yeah, in a blockbuster anti-trust trial to defend his social media company.
Metta is accused of trying to eliminate competitors when he did.
In a trial that could break up his social media empire.
The FTC is saying that Metta, formerly Facebook, is a monopoly.
The case was first filed back in 2020, and it's finally gone to trial.
At its heart are two acquisitions that the company made over a decade ago, of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The federal trade commission sued Metta for being a monopoly,
and they alleged that the company preyed on small competitors and bought them,
took them off the market, before they could emerge as very big competitors to them.
That's our colleague Dana Madioli, who covers tech investigations.
If the FTC succeeds, there's a possibility that Metta would have to divest these companies, which would be very unusual.
I mean, it could mean that they have to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
Metta says that the FTC's case ignores how people use technology today,
and that the company had legitimate business reasons for buying the platforms.
This case is coming at a moment when a lot of large tech companies,
like Apple and Amazon, are facing antitrust lawsuits.
Just today, a federal judge ruled against Google, saying that the company acted illegally to maintain its dominance.