Years after the Federal Commerce Fee sued Meta in a bid to halt acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the trial that can form its future is lastly underway. The trial kicked off final month when CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand, and it’s anticipated to final a number of weeks.
Fb’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram is a central a part of the FTC’s case towards Meta. The federal government says Zuckerberg purchased Instagram to neutralize it as a competitor. When Instagram’s cofounder and former CEO Kevin Systrom took the stand, he didn’t precisely defend the transfer. Whereas Zuckerberg had testified Meta had helped Instagram develop, Systrom testified Zuckerberg noticed Instagram as a “risk” to Fb’s development and deliberately withheld firm sources.
Additional nonetheless, Fb’s resolution to pay $1 billion for Instagram — an app with no income and only a handful of staff — appeared like an unimaginable sum. Sheryl Sandberg thought Zuckerberg had overpaid for Instagram. In an trade between the 2 from 2012, she mentioned, “Sure, in fact it’s manner an excessive amount of.”
There are extra nuggets, too. Like how Meta sees TikTok as an earnest risk, how Europeans aren’t shopping for the ad-free subscriptions (duh), and why Zuckerberg thought of nuking customers’ good friend lists yearly to spice up engagement. Learn Karissa Bell’s full breakdown of the FTC v. Meta antitrust trial to date.
— Mat Smith
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What to anticipate from Google I/O 2025
Android 16, Gemini and extra.
Google I/O 2025 must be one of many extra thrilling tech keynotes in latest reminiscence. Plus, for the primary time, Google has spun out a devoted Android showcase a complete week earlier. What can we count on to see in Android 16? We’ve had numerous hints at an upcoming design change to the platform, reportedly referred to as Materials 3 Expressive. A leaked weblog submit discusses the analysis behind Materials 3 Expressive and the way the visible overhaul led to motion components standing out extra and larger responsiveness on the customers’ half. Then there are Gemini AI updates, extra Google service updates and every part else. We break down what we’re anticipating to see.
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