Big Technology
Why the FTC Will Target Instagram in Its Case Against Facebook
An antitrust lawsuit against Facebook is forthcoming, and Instagram is in the crosshairs
Momentum inside the Federal Trade Commission is building toward a Facebook antitrust lawsuit. The lawsuit could drop at any moment, and my biggest worry as I type this is the FTC files it before I hit send, wiping out hours of work.
With the agency all but certain to bring a case, the biggest question now is which part of Facebook’s business it will attack. And the answer is most certainly Instagram.
That’s right — Instagram. When you examine previous big tech antitrust cases, the laws the FTC has at its disposal, and the state of Facebook’s business, it becomes evident that Zuckerberg’s crown jewel is under threat. That’s true even after the FTC let Facebook acquire the app in 2012. And by the time you finish reading today, you’ll see why:
The environment
We’re in the midst of a serious rethinking of tech giant power, a radically different environment from when the FTC cleared the Instagram acquisition eight years ago. Today, there’s a near consensus within the U.S. government that the tech giants, through their size and behavior…
