Meta CEO Zuckerberg considered spinning off Instagram in 2018 over antitrust worries, email says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once considered separating Instagram from its parent company due to worries about antitrust litigation, according to an email shown Tuesday on the second day of an antitrust trial alleging Meta illegally monopolized the social media market.

In the 2018 email, Zuckerberg wrote that he was beginning to wonder if “spinning Instagram out” would be the only way to accomplish important goals, as big-tech companies grow. He also noted “there is a non-trivial chance” Meta could be forced to spin out Instagram and perhaps WhatsApp in five to 10 years anyway.

He wrote that while most companies resist breakups, “the corporate history is that most companies actually perform better after they've been split up.”

Asked Tuesday by attorney Daniel Matheson, who is leading the antitrust case for the Federal Trade Commission, which incidence in corporate history he had in mind, Zuckerberg responded: “I'm not sure what I had in mind then.”

Zuckerberg, who was the first witness, testified for more than seven hours over two days in the trial that could force Meta to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups the tech giant bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses.

While questioning Zuckerberg on Tuesday morning, Matheson noted that he had referred to Instagram as being a “rapidly growing, threatening, network.” The attorney also pointed out Zuckerberg's referring to trying to neutralize a competitor by buying the company.

But Zuckerberg said while Matheson was able to show documents in court that indicated his concern about Instagram's growth, he also had many conversations about how excited his company was to acquire Instagram to make a better product.

Zuckerberg also said Facebook was in the process of building a camera app for sharing on mobile phones, and he thought Instagram was better at that, “so I wanted to buy them.”

Zuckerberg also pushed back against Matheson's contention that the reason for buying the company was to neutralize a threat.

“I think that that mischaracterizes what the email was," Zuckerberg said.

In his questioning of Zuckerberg, Matheson repeatedly brought up emails — many of them more than a decade old — written by Zuckerberg and his associates before and after the acquisition of Instagram.

While acknowledging the documents, Zuckerberg has often sought to downplay the contents, saying he wrote them in the early stages of considering the acquisition and that what he wrote at the time didn't capture the full scope of his interest in the company.

Matheson also brought up a February 2012 message in which Zuckerberg wrote to the former chief financial officer of Facebook that Instagram and Path, a social networking app, already had created meaningful networks that could be “very disruptive to us.”

Zuckerberg testified that the message was written in the context of a broad discussion about whether they should buy companies to accelerate their own developments.

Zuckerberg also testified that buying the company, taking it off the market and building their own version of it was “a reasonable thing to do.”

Later Tuesday, Mark Hansen, an attorney for Meta, began his questioning of Zuckerberg. Hansen, in his opening statements Monday, emphasized that Meta's services are free and that the company, far from holding a monopoly, actually has a lot of competition. He made a point of bringing up those issues in just over an hour of questioning Zuckerberg, with more expected to come Wednesday.

“It's very competitive,” Zuckerberg said, noting that charging for using services like Facebook would likely drive users away, since similar services are widely available elsewhere.

The trial is one of the first big tests of President Donald Trump’s FTC’s ability to challenge Big Tech. The lawsuit was filed against Meta — then called Facebook — in 2020, during Trump’s first term. It claims the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market.

Facebook bought Instagram — which was a photo-sharing app with no ads — for $1 billion in 2012.

Instagram was the first company Facebook bought and kept running as a separate app. Until then, Facebook was known for smaller “acqui-hires” — a popular Silicon Valley deal in which a company purchases a startup as a way to hire its talented workers, then shuts the acquired company down. Two years later, it did it again with the messaging app WhatsApp, which it purchased for $22 billion.

WhatsApp and Instagram helped Facebook move its business from desktop computers to mobile devices, and to remain popular with younger generations as rivals like Snapchat (which it also tried, but failed, to buy) and TikTok emerged.

However, the FTC has a narrow definition of Meta’s competitive market, excluding companies like TikTok, YouTube and Apple’s messaging service from being considered rivals to Instagram and WhatsApp.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is presiding over the case. Late last year, he denied Meta’s request for a summary judgment and ruled that the case must go to trial.

Workers load boxes of documents into a vehicle following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Workers load boxes of documents into a vehicle following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Boxes of documents are seen inside a vehicle following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Daniel Matheson, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Daniel Matheson, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Daniel Matheson, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Mark Hansen, right, a lawyer for Meta, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Daniel Matheson, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

Mark Hansen, right, a lawyer for Meta, departs following the first day of a historic antitrust trial about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg intentions in acquiring Instagram, at Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin testified Monday at a defamation trial that an editorial about gun control in The New York Times in 2017 was devastating and “kicked the oomph” out of her.

The former Republican candidate for vice president whose college degree is in journalism answered questions in Manhattan federal court at a trial of her libel claims against the newspaper. She seeks unspecified damages.

“This was the gamechanger,” Palin said of the effect on her life after the newspaper in June 2017 published the editorial that became the subject of her lawsuit. “I felt defenseless. It just kicked the oomph right out of you.”

The editorial was written after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded when a man with a history of anti-GOP activity opened fire on a congressional baseball team practice in Washington.

In the editorial, the Times wrote that before the 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.

In a correction published less than a day later, the Times said the editorial had “incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting” and had “incorrectly described” the map.

But Palin said the correction didn’t name her or restore her reputation, leaving it hard to overcome “when the loudest voice in the room, the most credible, biggest publication, was making things up about me.”

She said she received death threats.

“It got scarier. It got worse,” Palin said.

On cross-examination, a lawyer for the Times elicited from Palin that she still has millions of social media followers, is a best selling author and remains welcome to speak at events sponsored by Republican organizations.

Palin told reporters afterward that she was “thankful for the opportunity” to testify and that she is confident the jury will decide in her favor. She said she left court “believing that there's still justice in the world” and "believing still that the press will be held accountable."

Last week, former Times editorial page editor James Bennet cried as he apologized to Palin from the witness stand, saying he “blew it” when he inserted the incorrect information in the editorial.

He said he was “really upset, and I still am, obviously.”

In February 2022, a jury found against Palin’s libel claims, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan last year revived the case, citing errors made by the trial judge, including by dismissing the case while the last jury was deliberating.

After testimony concluded on Monday, lawyers asked Judge Jed S. Rakoff to make rulings in their favor as a matter of law rather than leaving everything for the jury to decide after closing arguments Tuesday. The judge rejected the requests.

“I think the 2nd Circuit has sent a message to this court that this is a case for the jury,” Rakoff said.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves Manhattan federal court, after testifying in her defamation trial against the New York Times, Monday, April 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin arrives to a Manhattan federal court in New York, Monday, April 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)