The Inside Story of How Facebook Acquired Instagram

The social giant’s controversial $1 billion acquisition shows how a tech monopoly wields power

Sarah Frier
OneZero
Published in
11 min readAug 5, 2020

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Facebook and Instagram logos on a smartphone.
Photo: Silas Stein/picture alliance/Getty Images

Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram was a watershed moment for Big Tech. It demonstrated just how much wealth and power the industry holds — and how it could be wielded. Secret emails, published as part of a

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Sarah Frier
OneZero

Tech reporter for Bloomberg in SF (@Business). UNC grad. Email sfrier1 at bloomberg dot net.