Facebook isn't really for friends anymore, Mark Zuckerberg testifies in antitrust trial

• Mark Zuckerberg testified in a landmark antitrust trial brought by the FTC against Meta.
• The FTC claims Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp violated competition laws.
• Zuckerberg was the first witness to take the stand.

The US government on Monday put Mark Zuckerberg on the witness stand as it faced off against Meta in a landmark antitrust trial that could result in the break up of the tech titan's social media empire.

Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Meta, testified that Facebook has greatly evolved since he launched the platform more than 20 years ago and that its main purpose isn't really to connect with friends anymore.

The Federal Trade Commission argues that Meta monopolizes apps that share content with friends and family.

"The friend part has gone down quite a bit," Zuckerberg, wearing a suit and tie, said as he was questioned by a FTC attorney in a federal courtroom in Washington, DC.

Zuckerberg, who was the first witness called, is expected to be questioned for as long as seven hours.

The Facebook feed, Zuckerberg said, "has turned into more of a broad discovery and entertainment space."

The FTC argues in its case that Meta, then called Facebook, violated US competition laws when it acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

Meta's $1 billion acquisition of Instagram and $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp were intended to box out competition and dominate the social media sphere, the FTC says. The government argues these acquisitions were part of Meta's "buy or bury" strategy to maintain market dominance.

The FTC said in court papers that Meta has maintained its monopoly position "in significant part" by pursuing Zuckerberg's strategy outlined in an internal 2008 email in which the CEO wrote, "It is better to buy than compete."

"Meta has for many years reaped massive economic profits beyond what you would expect to see in a competitive environment," FTC attorney Daniel Matheson said in his opening statement earlier Monday.

Mark Hansen, an attorney for Meta, argued in his opening statement that the government's case amounts to a "grab bag of FTC theories at war with the facts and at war with the law."

Hansen slammed the FTC's lawsuit against Meta as "misguided" as he said that the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were not unlawful. There is no monopoly, Hansen argued, saying that Meta faces massive competition from rivals TikTok and YouTube.

The case could be one of the most consequential antitrust trials in years. If FTC regulators have their way, Meta could be forced to sell off WhatsApp and Instagram.

The antitrust trial is expected to last up to eight weeks. Judge James Boasberg will be the sole decider on whether Meta violated competition laws as their is no jury.