Facebook could LOSE Instagram and WhatsApp in mega lawsuit – how apps could change

A FEDERAL anti-trust case against Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has been given the go-ahead.

Should the case succeed, the US tech titan could be forced to break up its alleged illegal monopoly by selling off its suite of social media apps.

Change of face

Under new ownership, the likes of Instagram, WhatsApp and other popular Meta services would likely change for users across the globe.

You would possibly need different logins for each app, for instance, rather than having the option to access them using your Facebook credentials.

Features like Stories would likely also no longer transfer seamlessly between your Instagram and Facebook profiles at the touch of a button.

It's possible, as well, that the ability to find your Facebook friends on WhatsApp and Instagram would become a little trickier.

It's all speculation for now, of course. We can't know exactly how the change might affect users until the terms of any would-be disbandment are agreed.

Untangling Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook would be extremely complicated and take years.

Will Guyatt, a tech expert and former Facebook staffer, said only tech giants like Google or Amazon could possibly take on the challenge of running one of Meta's enormous, global services.

He told The Sun: "While there’s a growing call for Meta to be broken up - the reality is it would be more difficult to do so than anybody could imagine.

"For the past five years or so, Meta has been pushing behind-the-scenes to bring Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp closer together.

"While they all look similar to users, it’s been made easier for advertisers and businesses to target us through a single portal. God knows how you could technically unravel these now very linked services."

He added that Meta has become a fairly unique business in that it’s been built around developing, operating and maintaining several of the world’s busiest online services.

"It’s going to be impossible for anyone that isn’t the size of Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Apple to take a punt on running essential global services like these," Guyatt said.

"And when platforms go wrong, people go elsewhere quickly.”

'A terrible idea'

Untangling Instagram and WhatsApp from Facebook would be extremely complicated and take years.

It could lead to even more bad content on Instagram, according to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram.

Speaking at a conference in 2019, he argued that the split would cut the photo-sharing app off from some of the content police force it needs.

“Personally, if we split it off, it might make a lot of my life easier, and it would probably be beneficial for me as an individual. But I just think it’s a terrible idea,” Mosseri said.

"If you’re trying to solve election integrity, if you’re trying to approach content issues like hate speech, and you split us off, it would just make it exponentially more difficult – particularly for us at Instagram – to keep us safe."

Mosseri was speaking at the Code Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, alongside tech reporter Casey Newton and Andrew Bosworth, who oversees virtual reality projects at Meta.

Newton branded Mosseri’s argument “circular logic” — akin to saying that because Facebook is so big, it can’t let Instagram go it alone.

"You take Instagram and Facebook apart — you have the same attack surfaces. They just now aren’t able to share and combine data,” Bosworth replied.

"So this isn’t circular logic. This is an economy of scale."

Facebook anti-trust case explained

The US Federal Trade Commission has been on a mission to split Instagram and WhatsApp from Meta for years.

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that US regulators' re-worked anti-trust case against Meta can go ahead, saying the complaint was more robust and detailed than the version denied last year.

The FTC has alleged the social media giant holds an illegal monopoly by acquiring potential competitors that it now owns like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Judge James Boasberg's ruling is a blow to Facebook, which faced renewed scrutiny last year after a whistleblower leaked documents showing executives knew the harm their services could cause to teens, democracy and users' well-being.

The FTC "may well face a tall task down the road in proving its allegations," but the case will not be dismissed, ruled Boasberg, who last year tossed out the original suit.

His ruling Tuesday denied a push by Facebook, which did not reply to a request seeking comment, to also dismiss the re-worked complaint.

"The Commission continues to allege that Facebook has long had a monopoly in the market... and that it has unlawfully maintained that monopoly," Boasberg wrote.

"The facts alleged this time around to fortify those theories, however, are far more robust and detailed than before," he added.

The judge also rejected Facebook's argument that the case should be dismissed because the commission's decision to amend and refile was fueled by a bias against the company by FTC chairwoman Lina Khan.

That contention missed the mark, the judge reasoned, because Khan is a prosecutor, not a judge bound to neutrality.

"Ultimately, whether the FTC will be able to prove its case and prevail at summary judgment and trial is anyone's guess," the judge said in the ruling.

In the amended complaint, the FTC said Facebook's dominance "is protected by high barriers to entry."

The agency added that "even an entrant with a superior product cannot succeed against the overwhelming network effects enjoyed by an incumbent personal social network."

The lawsuit, which could take years to go through the courts without a settlement, calls for the court to order "divestiture of assets," including WhatsApp and Instagram, to restore competition.

Boasberg said in his dismissal ruling last year that the agency's initial lawsuit lacked evidence, notably in defining the market that Facebook was allegedly monopolizing.

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