Meta Attempted Negotiations to Settle Antitrust Lawsuit
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month offered to pay $450 million to settle an antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission—far less than the $30 billion demanded by the FTC—The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. That case went to trial on Monday in Washington, where Zuckerberg has thus far testified for about nine hours and is expected to continue testifying on Wednesday.
FTC chair Andrew Ferguson considered the offer not credible and would not settle for less than $18 billion and a consent decree, the Journal reported. As the trial approached, Meta made an offer of close to $1 billion and Zuckerberg lobbied President Donald Trump to settle the case.
Trump at some point appeared more open to striking a deal with Zuckerberg at Meta, the Journal reported. But last week, Ferguson discussed the matter with Trump, who blessed the case going to trial. Gail Slater, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division; Mike Davis, a key antitrust adviser to Trump; Susie Wiles, the White House’s chief of staff; and Gary Barnett, Ferguson’s chief of staff also attended that meeting.
“We haven’t been shy about explaining why it doesn’t make sense for the FTC to bring a case to trial that requires it to prove something every 17-year-old in America knows is absurd — that Instagram doesn’t compete with TikTok,” a spokesperson for Meta said in a statement. “We are prepared to win at trial.“
Spokespeople for the White House and the FTC did not respond to requests for comment.