In the US, a lawsuit is ongoing between the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Meta
, which is accused of monopolizing the social media market. At a court hearing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited the reduction in the amount of content for friends on Instagram and Facebook as the main argument in favor of the fact that they are more entertainment platforms than social networks.
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The FTC accused Meta of monopolizing the social media market by acquiring potential competitors Instagram and WhatsApp to neutralize future threats.
Meta, for its part, argues that Instagram and Facebook face fierce competition from apps like TikTok and YouTube, and that consumer behavior, not anti-competitive behavior, is at the core of how they use these platforms.
Mark Zuckerberg noted in court that users are not “broadcasting” content to their friends on Facebook and Instagram as much as they used to. “The number of friends has shrunk significantly,” Zuckerberg said, adding that Facebook in particular has “become a larger space for discovery and entertainment.”
One of the slides Meta presented in court showed that time spent viewing content posted by friends has dropped from 22% on Facebook and 11% on Instagram in 2023 to 17% and 7%, respectively, this year.
That’s partly because Meta prioritizes short-form video and has changed how it recommends content to users. In March, the company launched a new Friends tab on Facebook that only shows posts, stories, and videos from people the user actually knows — no recommended content or algorithmic distractions.
In turn, Instagram top manager Adam Mosseri claims that at the moment Instagram is more like a messaging app than a software solution for sharing content.
«”The FTC’s lawsuit against Meta flies in the face of reality,” a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider. “The evidence presented at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp compete with TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage, and many other communications services.”