Meta monopoly experience is about to start. Here is what to know: npr

The anti -monopoly case affiliated with the Federal Trade Committee against Mita will start on Monday in the courtroom in Washington, DC. It is the culmination of nearly six years in whether the social media giant has broke the competition laws in obtaining Instagram and WhatsApp.

At stake, the huge advertising work in the future and the possibility of having to rotate its popular services significantly into separate companies.

FTC and Meta lawyers will submit opening data on Monday before the American boycott judge James Boasberg in a trial who is expected to extend for seven to eight weeks.

Groups of evidence and dozens of witnesses will be examined. The government plans to contact the CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the former director of operations, Sherrill Sandberg and Instagram President, Adam Museri, to the position of witnesses.

What is the FTC issue against Meta?

the The ftc argues When Meta acquired Instagram, in 2012, and WhatsApp, two years later, that was part of a strategy to eliminate competition and maintain monopolistic power over the social media market. The government claims that the “purchase or burial” strategy prompted the acquisitions of Mita, which led Mita to overcome competitors who considered it threats, or crushing competitors completely from work. FTC says this alleged behavior is illegal under federal monopoly laws.

What treatment does the Federal Trade Committee want?

The government argues that the only way to restore competition to the social media market is to force Meta to relax the purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp. The government says that stripping these applications will allow smaller social media companies to compete for consumers and advertising dollars and reduce a dead grip on the industry.

How is you expected to respond dead in court?

Meta meters punishable as it is an innovative and aggressive technical company. Meta’s lawyers say he always competes fairly, and the organizers are trying to punish the success of the fleeing Tech Titan. Meta lawyers also said in the court files that Instagram and WhatsApp have been approved by organizers for more than a decade, saying to reconsider these decisions now.

However, FTC asserts that Meta was not an imminent for the organizers who have cleared purchases, claiming that Mita has blocked major information about the company to win the blessing of Washington. There is another important aspect to defend Meta, which is the extent of the environmental system of social media today, in exchange for 2012 and 2014, when the company made these purchases.

Now, Meta says she is facing fierce competition such as Elon Musk’s X, Tiktok, Snapchat and many other social media platforms. In a statement before the opening of the data, Mita said, “Her evidence will appear in the trial of what every 17 -year -old child knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp with Chinese -owned Tiktok, YouTube, X, IMESSAGE and many others. The case sends the message that does not have a deal ever.

What does this mean for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users if you forced Meta to separate?

the FTC says it means more powerful competition between startups on social media, and therefore better quality services for everyone. Government lawyers argue that Meta services have been partially deteriorated due to their dominant situation in the market. More competitors, as FTC emphasizes, will help improve what is available to consumers.

Organizers also say that the protection of the Meta privacy has passed as a result of the alleged monopoly state. For FTC, disintegration means social media applications better for all of us. But Mita says the opposite: The disintegration will make each of its individual applications less integrated and worse for consumers.

What about the case policy? How to play the relationship of CEO Mark Zuckerberg with Trump in this trial?

This issue began for the first time in Trump’s first state, in December 2020. When Trump was still suffering from a bitter conflict with Zuckerberg, but the two were less confrontation recently. Before winning the November elections, Trump threatened to throw Zuckerberg in prison, saying that if Zuckerberg’s platforms have done anything to harm Trump’s chances of the campaign’s path, he may “spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Like many other executives in the Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg recently cleared himself with the Trump administration. Zuckeberg publicly praised Trump. Donate a million dollars to Trump’s opening committee; He has made transformations at the company’s level compatible with Trump’s priorities, such as ending the Facebook and Instagram facts program, diversity, shares and inclusion programs.

Zuckerberg also visited Trump’s Mar-A-Lago club. There has been speculation that Trump could abandon trial and stability with the definition, but so far, all indications indicate that the case is unfold for several weeks. However, the beginning of the trial does not take a settlement from time. It is possible, although it is unlikely that the two sides will reach a settlement in the midst of the trial.