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Mark Zuckerberg on the stand: ‘Crazy,’ ‘scary’ ideas led him to buy Instagram and WhatsApp
It’s too bad there are no cameras allowed in federal courtrooms, because I really would like to see Mark Zuckerberg testify.
He was the leadoff witness in the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Meta, and that in itself was news.
The clash is the most sweeping attempt to dismember the world’s biggest social network, and goes to the heart of how competition is defined.
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Not since the government broke up AT&T more than four decades ago has a mega-corporation faced the prospect of being torn apart.
The suit was filed in the first Trump term (the president couldn’t stand Facebook at the time), aggressively pursued by Joe Biden, and now has finally come to trial in a Washington courtroom.
Trump once told me Facebook was such a threat to society that he used it as justification for flip-flopping on his effort to ban TikTok.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was the leadoff witness in the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against his company. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
But since he won a second term, Zuck, like many tech bros, has been cozying up to the new sheriff in town, including a $1-million donation to the president’s inaugural.
There are reports that when the man who runs Facebook recently met with Trump, he asked about the possibility of dropping the lawsuit. Obviously, it didn’t work.
The focus of the trial is Zuckerberg’s decision to buy Instagram and WhatsApp when they were small start-ups.
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The FTC’s lead lawyer questioned Zuckerberg about a platform meant to foster ties between family and friends to a concentration on showing users interesting third-party content through its news feed.
«It’s the case that over time, the ‘interest’ part of that has gotten built out more than the ‘friend’ part,» Zuckerberg said. He added that «the ‘friend’ part has gone down quite a bit, but it’s still something we care about.»
Translation: Screw the friends. Very 2010s. We’ve moved on.
Zuckerberg spoke slowly – at least according to reporters who were there – and he was back on the hot seat yesterday. FTC lawyers pressed him on a stack of emails he had sent:
«We really need to get our act together quickly on this since Instagram’s growing so fast.
«Instagram has become a large and viable competitor to us on mobile photos, which will increasingly be the future of photos.»
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«If Instagram continues to kick ass on photos, or if Google buys them, then over the next few years they could easily add pieces of their service that copy what we’re doing now.» Which was a flop called Facebook Camera.
In yet another message, Zuck called Instagram’s growth «really scary,» saying «we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this.» Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, and two years later spent $19 billion on WhatsApp.
In an email to Tom Alison, head of Facebook, Z offered alternatives:
«Option 1. Double down on Friending. One potentially crazy idea is to consider wiping everyone’s graphs and having them start again.»
Alison responded: «I’m not sure Option #1 in your proposal (Double-down on Friending) would be viable given my understanding of how vital the friend use case is to IG.»
Meta bought out Instagram for $1 billion and WhatsApp for $19 billion before they took off. (Meta)
Now we come to the fascinating part.
It’s not breaking news that Mark’s judgment can be flawed. Remember when he insisted that virtual reality would be the next big thing?
But he argues that Meta has all kinds of rivals in the «entertainment» area, such as X, TikTok and YouTube – and he easily could have added Snap, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO’s Max. It’s all about the battle for eyeballs now. There are only so many hours in the day. Mindshare is everything.
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And with group chats all the rage, Meta doesn’t do well on that kind of interaction, with Instagram as a possible exception.
Now of course it’s in Zuckerberg’s self-interest to testify that he competes with anything that has a screen. But it’s not that far off the mark. Keep in mind that Meta has 4 billion active monthly users.
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I sure wish we could see the embattled CEO making the case that he’s awash in a vast sea of rivals.
Media Buzz,Mark Zuckerberg,Facebook,Media
INTERNACIONAL
Donald Trump se mete en la disputa por una isla en el Océano Índico y choca con Gran Bretaña
Desalojo
¿Qué quiere el gobierno de Donald Trump?
“Un gran error»
La importancia de la isla Diego García
Rechazo en Gran Bretaña
La base para atacar a Irán
INTERNACIONAL
GOP rips FISA court for tapping ex-Biden ‘disinformation’ lawyer to advise on surveillance
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Republican lawmakers called it «insane» that the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court appointed to a key advisory panel a lawyer with past ties to the Biden administration’s controversial Disinformation Governance Board.
Judges on the FISC appointed Jennifer Daskal this month to serve as an amicus curiae, meaning Daskal is now among a small group of lawyers designated to advise the secretive court, which approves warrants for federal authorities to surveil targets for foreign intelligence purposes. The GOP lawmakers say Daskal’s history with the disinformation board raises worries about her ability to discern whether warrants are appropriate.
«The same person who helped to build a board to censor American speech now advises judges on how to protect American liberties,» House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital in a statement. «That’s ridiculous — and exactly why Congress must continue our oversight.»
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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, looks on during a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., echoed Jordan’s concerns, saying Daskal’s appointment was «insane» and calling for reforms to the FISC.
Schmitt shared a video of himself on X questioning Daskal during a hearing about what he called the Biden administration’s «censorship enterprise,» referencing Daskal’s role in aiming to dispel what the administration viewed as inaccurate information about COVID-19 masks and vaccines and information about election security.
FISC proceedings are classified and «ex parte,» meaning a judge reviews the federal government’s warrant application and the target of the warrant has no awareness of the proceedings. A judge reviewing the application can, however, turn to an amicus curiae to present counterpoints to the government’s application, meaning Daskal is among a handful of lawyers who could be tapped to argue against allowing the government to wiretap a person’s phones or otherwise surveil them.
The logo of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seen at the Los Angeles Federal Building after a news conference to provide an update on the investigation into a May 18, 2025, bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, on June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government has access to these powerful spy tools for foreign intelligence purposes, but it has sometimes, whether inadvertently or intentionally, improperly targeted U.S. citizens.
Building more guardrails into the legislation has long been a point of contention for privacy hawks. Republicans, in particular, became highly critical of the FISC after finding that the court approved the FBI’s warrant applications, which contained flimsy and inaccurate evidence, to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page beginning in 2016.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported on Daskal’s appointment, that the «American people need to have confidence in the people tasked to serve as amici» before the FISC. Grassley pointed to a bill he introduced, the FISA Accountability Act, which would allow Congress to have a say in who is chosen as an amicus curiae.
Jordan and Grassley have been some of the most vocal proponents of reining in the federal government’s use of FISA after identifying instances in recent years of intelligence officials allegedly abusing their authority and infringing on U.S. citizens’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy. In the case of Page, DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz released a report in 2019 that identified more than a dozen «significant errors or omissions» across the FBI’s four warrant applications used to surveil the former Trump aide. Daskal, in her new role, could offer confidential, weighty legal arguments to a FISC judge that support or oppose intelligence officials’ requests to surveil someone.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is seen in the U.S. Capitol during votes related to the government shutdown on Thursday, October 16, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Daskal served as a top lawyer in the Department of Homeland Security when she helped launch the Disinformation Governance Board. Conservatives heavily criticized it, describing the board as a «Ministry of Truth» that sought to censor their viewpoints in violation of the First Amendment.
Daskal chartered the board, while Nina Jankowicz was named its executive director, an appointment that fueled Republicans’ fury over it after finding Jankowicz’ past social media posts that they said revealed she was too partisan. Jankowicz, for instance, cast doubt on the New York Post’s bombshell story in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which she said fit a pattern of Russian «information laundering.» Biden administration officials vehemently objected to the claims in the New York Post’s story about Joe Biden’s handling of Ukrainian foreign policy, though the authenticity of the laptop itself has been verified through court proceedings.
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Republicans put so much pressure on DHS about the board — calling it an «abuse of taxpayer dollars» and raising alarm that it painted policy disagreements over COVID-19, election security and immigration as mis- or dis- information — that it disbanded just a few months after its launch.
In Daskal’s hearing exchange with Schmitt, Daskal said «it’s not appropriate for the government to censor any points of view.» Daskal did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
fbi,judiciary,congress
INTERNACIONAL
Russia urges Iran, ‘all parties’ in Middle East to show restraint amid US military buildup
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Russia warned Iran and «all parties in the region to exercise restraint and caution» Thursday amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remark as the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group are moving from the Caribbean toward the Middle East.
«Russia continues to develop relations with Iran, and in doing so, we call on our Iranian friends and all parties in the region to exercise restraint and caution, and we urge them to prioritize political and diplomatic means in resolving any problems,» Peskov said Thursday, according to Reuters.
«Right now, we are indeed seeing an unprecedented escalation of tensions in the region. But we still expect that political and diplomatic means and negotiations will continue to prevail in the search for a settlement,» he added.
WORLD’S LARGEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN NUCLEAR TENSIONS SPIKE DRAMATICALLY
A F-18E fighter jet takes off from aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford as it sails during NATO Neptune Strike 2025 exercise on Sept. 24, 2025, in the North Sea. (Jonathan Klein/AFP via Getty Images)
The move of the USS Gerald R. Ford would place two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago.
Negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program advanced Tuesday toward what Tehran described as the beginning of a potential framework, but sharp public divisions between the two sides underscored how far apart they remain.
IRAN FIRES LIVE MISSILES INTO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS TRUMP ENVOYS ARRIVE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS
The USS Gerald R. Ford is heading toward the Middle East as tensions with Iran escalate and President Donald Trump demands full nuclear dismantlement. (Jonathan Klein/AFP via Getty Images)
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides reached a «general agreement on a number of guiding principles» and agreed to begin drafting text for a possible agreement, with plans to exchange drafts and schedule a third round of talks.
Yet Washington has publicly insisted that any agreement must result in the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program — including its enrichment capacity — along with limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for allied militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, is seen in the North Sea during NATO Neptune Strike 2025 exercise in September 2025. (Jonathan Klein/AFP via Getty Images)
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Those demands go well beyond temporary enrichment pauses or technical adjustments.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
iran,russia,military,nuclear proliferation,middle east,world
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