Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Meta (then Facebook) in December 2020 for alleged antitrust violations. During the trial, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was reported to have said, 'Social media is no longer as social as it used to be.'

Mark Zuckerberg Says Social Media Is Over | The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/mark-zuckerberg-says-social-media-is-over

The FTC is suing Meta, alleging that its acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 were designed to crush competitors in order to protect its monopoly position. The lawsuit was dismissed in June 2021 and refiled with an amended complaint in August, and continued after Meta filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit in January 2022 and April 2024. In November 2024, a judge in the District of Columbia District Court granted the case permission to proceed.

Federal District Court Allows FTC to Move Lawsuit Against Meta, Saying Meta's Acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp is a Crush on Rivals - GIGAZINE

According to The New Yorker, Zuckerberg said in his opening statement, 'Social networks are websites that connect people online, where people can meet up and enjoy the content their friends post. But over the past decade, social media has morphed into something more like traditional media. It's now a place for celebrity promotional videos, posts by vocal commentators on current events, pop culture clippings, and even low-quality content mass-produced by AI. All of this content is aimed at the widest audience possible. Their messages now feel like needles in a vast digital haystack. Social media is no longer the social thing it once was.'

Zuckerberg's remarks are related to the fact that the 'definition of social media' is at issue in the trial. The FTC claims that 'Meta maintained an illegal monopoly in the 'social networking services industry',' while Meta counters by showing the logos of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc., saying, 'Social media itself does not exist in the form it did in 2020, and digital consumption of all kinds of content is so prevalent that no single company or platform has a monopoly on it.' However, the FTC does not define TikTok or YouTube as competitors in the 'social networking services industry.'

As the FTC pointed out in court, Zuckerberg sent a memo to Facebook executives in 2018 saying, 'Instagram is potentially undermining Facebook's success due to alleged antitrust violations associated with a series of acquisitions, so it may be better to separate Instagram ahead of the order.' This suggests that Meta was aware of the monopoly that came with the acquisition, but as Zuckerberg's opening statement said, more than 10 years have passed since Instagram and WhatsApp were acquired, and the social media industry has changed significantly. Therefore, The New Yorker said, 'The FTC may be chasing old problems while newer, bigger problems are emerging.'

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was considering splitting off Instagram in 2018 - GIGAZINE

'The FTC's definition of social media is akin to gerrymandering , the practice of drawing electoral districts to favor a particular party or candidate in an election,' said technology analyst Benedict Evans. 'By the FTC's definition, TikTok is not competing with Facebook at all, so Meta has a monopoly. So is it OK for Meta to buy TikTok?'

The FTC also argues that Meta's monopoly following the acquisition led to a lack of innovation and reduced consumer choice, stating that 'market competition leads to improved features, functionality, soundness, and user experience.' However, according to Zuckerberg's testimony, WhatsApp's founders had no desire for the kind of reform and rapid growth that Meta encouraged. Therefore, the addition of new features and the increase in the number of users from approximately 500 million to more than 2 billion before and after the acquisition may not be in line with the FTC's claim that 'the acquisition caused a lack of innovation.'

The lawsuit between Meta and the FTC is also believed to be related to the intentions of the Trump administration. Meta officially ended fact-checking by independent organizations to determine whether the information posted on the platform is accurate, but only in the United States, on April 7, 2025. This was seen as a change in policy in anticipation of the changing situation with Donald Trump's inauguration as president. Zuckerberg has repeatedly visited the White House to appeal to the administration about Meta's friendship, but President Trump continues to support the lawsuit against Meta.