Zuckerberg admits Instagram acquisition was because of better camera

• Published On: 16 April 2025 at 18:09

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted on Tuesday that Instagram had a better photo feature at the time of its acquisition, a pivotal moment in an antitrust lawsuit challenging the tech titan's previous mergers. During his second day of testimony, Zuckerberg revealed that Meta, then known as Facebook, was building a...


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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted on Tuesday that Instagram had a better camera feature at the time of its acquisition, a pivotal moment in an antitrust trial challenging the internet titan's previous mergers.

During his second day on the witness stand, Zuckerberg told the court that Meta—then known as Facebook—was creating a camera program when the decision was made to acquire Instagram instead. "We were doing a build vs. buy analysis," he told me. "I thought that Instagram was better at that, so I thought it was better to buy them."

The statement backs up the US Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) key claim: Meta utilised a "buy or bury" approach to neutralise growing competitors and retain a monopoly in the social networking arena. The FTC is attempting to undo Meta's purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp, claiming that the transactions were anti-competitive.

The case, filed during the Trump administration, is seen as a crucial test of US regulators' determination to rein in Big Tech. The FTC claims Meta has monopolised platforms for sharing content with friends and family, limiting competition from smaller competitors such as Snapchat and MeWe.

Under questioning, Zuckerberg acknowledged the difficulties his company faced in developing new products from start. "Building a new app is hard, and many more times than not when we have tried to build a new app, it hasn't gotten a lot of traction," he told me. "We probably tried building dozens of apps over the history of the company and the majority of them don't go anywhere."

The FTC has used internal corporate records to support its case, including a 2008 email from Zuckerberg that stated, "It is better to buy than compete."

Meta has responded by contesting the FTC's definition of the social media market, claiming that it ignores severe competition from platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Apple's messaging apps.

Another source of dispute is advertising. The FTC contends that Meta's dominance enables it to harm user experience by boosting ad volume. Zuckerberg argued that more advertising do not always harm users. "Ads on Meta's apps have improved," he told me. "Our system is designed to show more ad content to people who like seeing ad content."

He even revealed that Meta had discussed the possibility of an ad-only feed. "I think we have discussed it at different points, but I don't think we have done it," he told me.