Instagram would have been successful even when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had never purchased the photo-sharing app for $1 billion in 2012, co-founder Kevin Systrom said through the FTC’s landmark antitrust trial on Tuesday.
Systrom, who was called to the stand by the FTC, testified that Instagram was experiencing explosive user growth prior to Zuckerberg’s acquisition offer. The 41-year-old also said he was confident Instagram could have eventually rolled out features like video and personal messages without Facebook’s help.
As Instagram grew, Systrom testified that Zuckerberg began to treat the app’s success as a “threat” to Facebook. In a single instance, Instagram didn’t receive any latest headcount to enhance its data privacy practices despite a companywide effort to achieve this after the Cambridge Analytics scandal.
“I believed that that was not appropriate given the dimensions of Instagram,” Systrom said, in response to Bloomberg.
The testimony lent support to the FTC’s core claim that Meta used a “buy or bury” technique to stop upstart apps like Instagram and WhatsApp before they might directly threaten its social media empire. The agency has asked the court to force Meta to spin off the apps.
In a 2017 email shown in court, Systrom grumbled to a colleague that Instagram hadn’t received additional employees despite a companywide push to expand video offerings.
In one other emailed, Systrom complained to Facebook’s ex-chief technology officer that Instagram had areas that were “ravenous for investment.”
“I used to be working very hard for the corporate to make this successful and never getting resources back,” Systrom said on the stand. “It was in stark contrast to the trouble I used to be putting in.”
Systrom continued to steer Instagram after the acquisition and remained as its CEO until his resignation in 2018. On the time, he said simply that he and co-founder Mike Krieger, who also departed, were “now ready for our next chapter.”
The Post reached out to Meta for comment on Systrom’s testimony.
Earlier within the trial, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had argued that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram had helped reasonably than hurt its growth – and asserted that its explosion in popularity may never have happened without his support.
Meta’s chief legal officer Jennifer Newstead also made that case in a blog post earlier this month ahead of the trial.
“After we acquired Instagram, it had about 2% of the users it has today, just 13 employees, no revenue, and virtually no infrastructure of its own,” Newstead said. “Lots of the features which might be now central to the Instagram community – direct messaging, live video streaming, shopping, and stories – were built on Meta’s core technology infrastructure after the acquisition.”
As The Post has reported, Zuckerberg’s past emails regarding the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were featured heavily within the FTC’s opening argument, in addition to the billionaire’s three-day appearance in court.
“Messenger isn’t beating WhatsApp, Instagram was growing a lot faster than us that we had to purchase them for $1 billion,” Zuckerberg said in a single November 2012 email to then-Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Instagram would have been successful even when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had never purchased the photo-sharing app for $1 billion in 2012, co-founder Kevin Systrom said through the FTC’s landmark antitrust trial on Tuesday.
Systrom, who was called to the stand by the FTC, testified that Instagram was experiencing explosive user growth prior to Zuckerberg’s acquisition offer. The 41-year-old also said he was confident Instagram could have eventually rolled out features like video and personal messages without Facebook’s help.
As Instagram grew, Systrom testified that Zuckerberg began to treat the app’s success as a “threat” to Facebook. In a single instance, Instagram didn’t receive any latest headcount to enhance its data privacy practices despite a companywide effort to achieve this after the Cambridge Analytics scandal.
“I believed that that was not appropriate given the dimensions of Instagram,” Systrom said, in response to Bloomberg.
The testimony lent support to the FTC’s core claim that Meta used a “buy or bury” technique to stop upstart apps like Instagram and WhatsApp before they might directly threaten its social media empire. The agency has asked the court to force Meta to spin off the apps.
In a 2017 email shown in court, Systrom grumbled to a colleague that Instagram hadn’t received additional employees despite a companywide push to expand video offerings.
In one other emailed, Systrom complained to Facebook’s ex-chief technology officer that Instagram had areas that were “ravenous for investment.”
“I used to be working very hard for the corporate to make this successful and never getting resources back,” Systrom said on the stand. “It was in stark contrast to the trouble I used to be putting in.”
Systrom continued to steer Instagram after the acquisition and remained as its CEO until his resignation in 2018. On the time, he said simply that he and co-founder Mike Krieger, who also departed, were “now ready for our next chapter.”
The Post reached out to Meta for comment on Systrom’s testimony.
Earlier within the trial, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had argued that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram had helped reasonably than hurt its growth – and asserted that its explosion in popularity may never have happened without his support.
Meta’s chief legal officer Jennifer Newstead also made that case in a blog post earlier this month ahead of the trial.
“After we acquired Instagram, it had about 2% of the users it has today, just 13 employees, no revenue, and virtually no infrastructure of its own,” Newstead said. “Lots of the features which might be now central to the Instagram community – direct messaging, live video streaming, shopping, and stories – were built on Meta’s core technology infrastructure after the acquisition.”
As The Post has reported, Zuckerberg’s past emails regarding the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were featured heavily within the FTC’s opening argument, in addition to the billionaire’s three-day appearance in court.
“Messenger isn’t beating WhatsApp, Instagram was growing a lot faster than us that we had to purchase them for $1 billion,” Zuckerberg said in a single November 2012 email to then-Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
