MENLO PARK, Calif. (Diya TV) — As Meta Platforms battles the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in a landmark antitrust trial, new reporting reveals CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered as much as $1 billion earlier this year in an attempt to settle the case and avoid a courtroom showdown.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Zuckerberg first approached FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson in March with an offer of $450 million to resolve the lawsuit. As the trial date approached, Meta reportedly increased the offer to $1 billion. Ferguson, however, rejected both proposals, the Journal said, holding out for at least $18 billion and a formal consent decree. The agency is ultimately seeking to break up Meta, alleging that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were anti-competitive moves aimed at cementing the company’s dominance in the personal social networking market.
Former FTC Chair Lina Khan, who previously led the agency’s charge against Meta before stepping down, called the reported settlement offers “delusional” in an interview with the Journal. “Mark bought his way out of competing, so I’m not surprised that he thinks he can buy his way out of law enforcement, too,” Khan said.
The FTC’s lawsuit accuses the $1.4 trillion tech giant of stifling competition by acquiring Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, instead of allowing both platforms to challenge Facebook’s dominance. The agency contends these deals were designed to neutralize rising rivals in the personal social networking space — platforms primarily used to connect with friends and family, rather than to encourage innovation or improve user experiences.
The trial officially began Monday, with Zuckerberg taking the stand after what the Journal described as a “frenzied lobbying effort” by Meta’s chief executive to avoid the courtroom. During his testimony, Zuckerberg defended the acquisitions, stating that the deals were aimed at fostering innovation and creating better experiences for users, not eliminating competition.
In a key moment, FTC attorneys confronted Zuckerberg with a 2012 internal email in which he suggested that buying Instagram could be a way to “neutralize a competitor.” Another email cited concern about Facebook Camera falling behind Instagram. Zuckerberg acknowledged the emails were genuine but argued they reflected early-stage discussions rather than long-term strategy.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Zuckerberg privately sought political backing to derail the lawsuit, including appealing to former President Donald Trump for support. The article noted that Meta had previously donated $1 million to Trump’s 2017 inauguration and settled a $25 million lawsuit linked to Facebook’s advertising practices, underscoring the company’s longstanding efforts to maintain influential ties in Washington.
If the FTC prevails, Meta could be forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp — a move that would dramatically reshape the company’s business model. According to industry estimates, Instagram alone is projected to account for more than half of Meta’s U.S. advertising revenue by 2025.
Meta, for its part, has argued that it faces fierce competition from a wide range of platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and even Apple’s iMessage. The company contends that the social media market is far broader than the FTC’s narrow definition, and that its acquisitions strengthened, rather than harmed, competition.
The trial is expected to last up to eight weeks and will feature testimony from a lineup of high-profile witnesses, including former Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom.
