Meta makes bold claim in final argument of FTC trial

Meta concluded its defense in the FTC’s antitrust trial, calling WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton and a former Instagram infrastructure executive to argue that Meta’s support, not its dominance, helped those apps grow.

Meta rested its case on Wednesday after four days of testimony in its high-stakes antitrust trial with the Federal Trade Commission in Washington. The six-week proceeding, overseen by Judge Boasberg, saw Meta bring back key insiders who had already testified for the FTC, giving the company another chance to question them before the trial moves to closing arguments.

In those final days, Meta had a chance to ask its questions because the FTC had already called both witnesses in earlier hearings, according to a report by The Verge. They aimed to challenge Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom’s claim that Meta withheld support that could have made Instagram safer and stronger and that the app would have succeeded even without Meta.

Meta argued that instead of acting as rivals, Instagram and WhatsApp would have struggled to survive without Meta’s support.

The company argued these apps would have stayed much smaller, with fewer features, and would have been less accessible to users than they are today if left to grow on their own.

Meta points to TikTok and YouTube as its real rivals

Several Meta witnesses also pointed to TikTok as a key competitor.  The FTC has drawn a line between personal social networking, where people share with friends and family, and entertainment-focused apps like TikTok and YouTube.

Meta says that split misses how competition really works. It argues that the court should look at all the companies fighting for the same user attention, creator content, and advertising dollars.

In a November order, Judge Boasberg pushed back on Meta’s broad view of competition. He said accepting Meta’s idea would mean treating everything from watching a movie at a friend’s house to reading a book at the library or playing online poker as substitutes for its apps.

He said that kind of approach was too far-reaching. “Antitrust law does not require consideration of such an ‘infinite range’ of possible substitutes,” he wrote.

The judge said the FTC made strong arguments but at times stretched old antitrust rules too far.“At times,” he wrote, “they strain this country’s creaking antitrust precedents to their limits.”

Meta focuses on app engagement with user growth maxed out

During the trial, Judge Boasberg also listened to Facebook’s chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz.

Schultz said that Facebook and Instagram in the United States have already added nearly all of the roughly 250 million people who could use them.

The FTC noted that Meta’s growth rate looked slower simply because it had reached most of those potential users. Schultz said that real competition is about where users spend their time rather than just adding new ones.

Judge Boasberg later asked the FTC’s lead economic expert, Scott Hemphill, about this point.

He added that it would be “pretty hard” for Instagram to get much bigger in the U.S. than it already is.

Hemphill countered that Meta’s support did not necessarily make social media better for users. He said that without Meta’s guidance, the personal social networking market, not just Instagram, might have been stronger in terms of measures like user welfare and app quality.

Meta has argued that the FTC is living in the past by overstating the role of friends and family sharing on its apps. To address that demand, Meta rolled out “OG Facebook,” which shows a feed only of posts from people users know in real life.

Head of Facebook Tom Alison testified that on the main feed, users would have to scroll all day to see all of their friends’ posts because the core experience in 2025 is driven by algorithmic recommendations.

Now, Judge Boasberg must decide if connecting with friends on social media still counts as its own market that Meta controls. Meta asked for an early ruling in its favor, but the judge said he was not ready to issue a verdict

If he sides with the FTC, the government would likely push to break off the apps that Meta bought, including WhatsApp and Instagram. Meta says breaking up its apps would hurt the innovation the FTC says it wants.

In a statement, Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said, “After six weeks trying to make their case to undo acquisitions made over a decade ago and show that no deal is ever truly final, the only thing the FTC showed was the dynamic, hyper-competitive nature of the past, present and future of the technology industry. Meta is a proud American success story, and we look forward to continuing to innovate and serve the people and businesses who love our services.”

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