Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Testifies TikTok Was a Threat to Meta’s Business
In the ongoing antitrust trial against Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on Wednesday that TikTok’s success posed a significant risk to Meta’s business. According to reports from Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Hill, Zuckerberg described TikTok as a “top priority” and a “highly urgent” competitive threat when it emerged in 2018.
The testimony came during a packed first week of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s trial against Meta. If the FTC’s lawyers succeed, Meta may be required to spin out Instagram or WhatsApp as separate companies.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that TikTok’s entrance into the market directly impacted Meta, leading to a significant slowdown in growth for the company. He revealed that Meta has been actively focusing on competing with TikTok for several years, recognizing the app’s popularity and influence.
The acquisition of Musical.ly by ByteDance in 2017, which was later merged with TikTok, coincided with Meta’s decision to shift its reporting metrics to a “family of apps” model that included Instagram and WhatsApp. This move was intended to conceal the declining growth of Meta’s flagship Facebook app.
During the trial, Zuckerberg also addressed the changing landscape of social media platforms and the diminishing importance of traditional “network effects” in driving growth. He noted that apps now primarily serve as discovery engines, allowing users to share content on messaging platforms rather than relying on connections between friends and family.
Despite this shift, Meta has recently focused on enhancing its core social networking features to facilitate better connections among users. The company has introduced new features, such as a revamped Friends tab, to emphasize friend interactions and activities. Zuckerberg has expressed a goal of returning to the original essence of Facebook, highlighting the importance of fostering social connections in the digital age.
