In a high profile anti-trust case Meta has called witnesses to back up its argument that it did not impede competition through its acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram.
WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who left in 2017, when it was worth $800m, testified in the case, he was called to state that while under Meta’s ownership WhatsApp was able to benefit from the company’s infrastructure, but could have continued to succeed independently.
Acton also conceded that he agreed to sell without securing a commitment against using ads and that he understood the offer price was likely based on plans to do so.
That seemed to support the idea that the founders could have been open to monetising their product more than they let on.
In 2016, under Meta’s ownership, WhatsApp was also pressured to change its privacy policy to enable Facebook to capitalise on user data for its ads products, something that the FTC suggests could have been different without Meta’s ownership.