Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed some of the bold and surprising ideas he considered while building his social media empire. From buying Snapchat to deleting users’ Facebook friends lists, Zuckerberg’s plans show just how far he was willing to go to keep Meta ahead of its competition. According to The Verge, Zuckerberg talked about the ideas while testifying in a federal courthouse in Washington, DC. The hearing is part of an ongoing antitrust case where the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is trying to make Meta sell Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that the company unfairly bought out potential rivals to stay on top.
The FTC is trying to prove that Meta holds a monopoly in what it calls personal social networking services, which includes apps like Snapchat and MeWe. The agency believes Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp in the early 2010s because it feared they could become strong competitors.
Zuckerberg pushed back against the FTC’s claims, saying the market is “fluid” and that today, his top competitors are TikTok, YouTube, and iMessage. He also explained that Meta’s platforms overlap with many other services, including LinkedIn, which is mainly for professional networking.
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Some documents shared in court showed what could have happened if things had gone differently. For example, Zuckerberg once offered Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel $6 billion to buy the app in 2013. Spiegel said no. Zuckerberg believes that if the deal had gone through, Meta would have helped Snapchat grow even faster.
One of his unusual ideas was to completely wipe everyone’s Facebook friends lists in 2022, just to let users “start fresh” and reconnect in a new way. He also once considered spinning off Instagram.
The FTC also claimed Meta has been able to increase the number of ads in users’ feeds because people didn’t have other places to go. Zuckerberg responded by saying users think ads are as good as regular posts — and at one point, Meta even considered making a feed full of only ads. In court, Zuckerberg defended his past decisions, saying that Meta’s purchases helped make apps like Instagram and WhatsApp into what they are today.