Mark Zuckerberg isn’t ruling out spinning off Instagram — a possibility he had already floated a year before the FTC launched an antitrust investigation into the company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
This detail surfaced as Meta defends itself against a government lawsuit demanding the company’s breakup. According to The Verge, Zuckerberg submitted a 2018 internal memo to the FTC in which he acknowledged that “most companies resist being broken up, but business history shows that many do better afterward.”
Back in 2012, Meta (then Facebook) acquired Instagram for $1 billion. Two years later, the company bought WhatsApp for $19 billion. But already by 2018, Zuckerberg foresaw potential regulatory pushback. He warned his top executives that there was a “real possibility” Meta could be forced to divest some of its assets. “Everything that we built as a single project may not be ours,” he said. He also flagged political risks, especially if Democrats gained power, as he believed they would be more inclined to push for the breakup of large tech companies.
Antitrust Pressure and the Lawsuit
Currently, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accuses Meta of acquiring potential rivals — specifically Instagram and WhatsApp — to neutralize competition and maintain its dominance in the social media space. The FTC alleges that these deals were not just strategic but deliberately anti-competitive.
Meta strongly disagrees with the claims, arguing that the accusations are “contrary to the facts and the law.” The company maintains that its acquisitions were legitimate and brought value to users by integrating services and expanding features, notes NIXSolutions.
The lawsuit remains ongoing and could set a precedent for how regulators handle digital competition and large tech conglomerates in the future. As the case unfolds, we’ll keep you updated on key developments and what they could mean for the tech industry at large.
What’s Next for Meta?
Whether or not Meta is ultimately forced to break up, Zuckerberg’s memo suggests that the company is at least mentally prepared for that scenario. If regulators prevail, it could reshape the way major platforms are structured and operated in the coming years.