Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, is reportedly engaging with U.S. President Donald Trump to secure an agreement that would help avert an antitrust trial scheduled for later this month, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the discussions have indicated that this effort is aimed at preventing significant repercussions for the company.
In advance of an April 14 trial set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), representatives from Meta have met with Trump and his senior aides. This trial could potentially compel Meta to reverse its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed, “We regularly meet with policymakers to discuss issues impacting competitiveness, national security, and economic growth,” in a statement to Reuters.
Currently, the White House has not issued a response, and a representative from the FTC has refrained from commenting on the matter.
The FTC is leading an antitrust initiative targeting major technology firms, a crackdown that began during Trump’s first term and has persisted under President Joe Biden. Some Democrats have expressed concerns over Trump’s ongoing support for these antitrust actions, particularly in light of recent attempts by tech giants to enhance their relationships with the administration and Trump’s dismissal of two Democratic commissioners from the FTC.
Andrew Ferguson, the Chairman of the FTC, has stated his intention to persist with the agency’s actions against Meta and Amazon.
In 2020, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Meta, previously known as Facebook, asserting that the company had engaged in illegal practices to sustain its monopolistic position in the personal social network sector. The agency claimed that Meta overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate emerging competitors rather than fostering competition within the mobile marketplace.
In its defense, Meta contends that these acquisitions have actually bolstered competition and benefited consumers. The company argues that the FTC’s stance is based on a limited interpretation of the social media landscape and fails to consider rivalry from platforms like TikTok, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn.
This legal challenge against Meta is part of a broader set of significant lawsuits targeting Big Tech by antitrust regulators from the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice. Other companies, including Amazon and Apple, are also facing legal action, while Alphabet’s Google is confronted with two separate lawsuits, one of which recently revealed the company’s unlawful efforts to suppress competition in the online search engine space.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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