Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, is reportedly urging President Donald Trump to consider a settlement that could avert an antitrust trial set for later this month, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal based on insights from sources familiar with the discussions.
Representatives from Meta engaged with Trump and his senior advisors in anticipation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) trial scheduled for April 14. This trial has the potential to require Meta to reverse its acquisitions of messaging service WhatsApp and photo-sharing platform Instagram.
“We regularly meet with policymakers to discuss issues impacting competitiveness, national security, and economic growth,” a spokesperson for Meta stated in an interview with Reuters.
The White House has not provided an immediate response, and a representative for the FTC also opted not to comment on the situation.
The FTC is intensifying its antitrust scrutiny of major technology firms, a crackdown that began during Trump’s first administration and has persisted under President Joe Biden. Democrats have expressed concerns about Trump’s dedication to pursuing these cases, particularly in light of efforts by tech companies to improve their relationships with the administration and Trump’s unexpected dismissal of two Democratic commissioners from the FTC.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has indicated his intention to continue the agency’s efforts against Meta and Amazon.
The FTC initiated legal action against Meta in 2020, accusing the company of illegally maintaining a monopoly within the personal social networking space.
According to the FTC, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, overpaid for Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate emerging competitive threats rather than engaging in fair competition within the mobile market.
Meta contends that the acquisitions have benefitted competition and consumers alike. The company argues that the FTC’s claims rest on a limited interpretation of social media markets, failing to consider competition from platforms like TikTok from ByteDance, YouTube from Google, X, and LinkedIn from Microsoft.
This case forms part of a series of significant lawsuits initiated by antitrust authorities at both the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice targeting major tech companies.
In addition to Meta, both Amazon and Apple are facing legal challenges, while Alphabet’s Google is contending with two lawsuits, one of which has seen a judge rule that the company unlawfully hindered competition in the online search engine market.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
