Welcome to today's episode, where we're diving into the ongoing Meta monopoly trial. Recently, Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, leveled serious accusations against Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stifled Instagram's growth out of jealousy for Facebook's dominance. According to Systrom, after Facebook integrated Instagram, Zuckerberg began "draining resources" to suppress its growth, highlighting a 2018 email where Zuckerberg even considered selling Instagram to halt its rapid ascendance in ad revenue.

Systrom stated, "Every company needs to make trade-offs, but it felt like something else was going on." This comes as Instagram is now projected to account for over half of Meta's ad revenue. By 2018, Systrom indicated that Meta saw Instagram as a "threat" to Facebook, believing that if Instagram didn’t grow, Facebook could avoid a plateau.

While Systrom argued that Zuckerberg's actions directly hampered Instagram's potential, Meta responded that the FTC is merely revisiting old acquisitions the agency had previously approved. With intense scrutiny from regulators, the trial pushes to identify whether Meta truly monopolizes the personal social networking market. Stay tuned as we follow this compelling story.
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