Within the framework of antitrust trial against target, Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, He has risen to the stage to offer his vision of competition in the social networks market, the company's internal strategic decisions and its perception of rivals like Tiktok or X-Twitter.
Recall that this case starts from an antimonopoly claim presented by the Federal Federal Commission of the United States (FTC) against goal (still called Facebook at the time the facts were produced), in which it is alleged that Meta acquired to his rivals Instagram and WhatsApp to build a monopoly in the social media market. Demand seeks to force Meta to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
In this same trial, a few days ago, the Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, denied wanting to eliminate competition when buying these applications. He affirmed that He liked the camera and photography experience of Instagram and did not see her as a direct competitor. On WhatsApp, he said that his founders were “little ambitious” in terms of maximizing their impact and that target invested resources to grow both platforms.
As you can imagine, the juicy statements of someone as relevant as Mosseri have not only been relevant from the legal point of view, but also offer a precise radiography of the challenges and ambitions of the Menlo Park giant and his vision of the current social sector.
Instagram, between friends and entertainment
One of the central issues of the trial is whether a goal really competes in a market limited to contact between friends and family, as the FTC alleges, or if it is part of a broader ecosystem of digital entertainment.
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) argues that target – through Facebook and Instagram— The “personal social media market” dominatesthat is, a space focused on communication between friends and family. According to this vision, having acquired or eliminated possible competitors in that segment (such as Instagram or WhatsApp), Meta has consolidated a monopoly that limits innovation and harms the consumer. The mention of a Mark Zuckerberg guideline sent by Email to Mosseri in 2018 reinforces this line: at that time Zuckerberg explained that although the public content grows, “Instagram could never be just for public figures or would no longer be a social product.”
On the other hand, Meta, with the support of Adam Mosseri's testimony, tries to expand the definition of the market: defends that not only competes with other classical social networks, but also with digital entertainment platforms such as Tiktok, YouTube or even Twitter/X, where the axis is no longer so much personal relationship as viral content, creators or algorithms. So, Mosseri defended that Instagram has evolved by combining social interaction and public contentpointing out that activities such as Comment a sports publication And then interact with friends in the comments are still a fundamental part of the experience.
Threads: from independent app function
One of the most commented moments of the testimony was the explanation about Threadsthe application launched as Twitter competitor. According to Mosseri, Initially it was conceived as a function within Instagrambut the team decided to make it an independent app due to structural differences: “In Threads, the answers are as important as the original posts, something difficult to integrate into the usual instagram flow.”
The decision was very discussed internally, but shows how Meta recognizes the need to create products with its own logic against direct rivals.
Tiktok, the biggest threat to Instagram
Mosseri had no qualms about recognizing that Tiktok represents the fiercest competition that has ever faced a goal, “a great concern.” In fact, he explained that according to internal estimates, Up to 40% of the time fall on Instagram in 2019 was due to Tiktok.
The impulse of Reels, The short video content within Instagram was the direct answer to this challenge, although the CEO admits that its initial implementation was a mistake, When building on the basis of Stories: “We should have been more aggressive.”
The CEO also pointed out that Tiktok has stopped being a passive platform To become “as participatory as we”, underlining the change of paradigm that Instagram faces in the war for attention. In fact, he added another competitor to the equation, explaining that as YouTube has bowed to shorts, “He has approached us more.”
Faced with the FTC narrative that Instagram and Facebook dominate the social market, Mosseri argued that the panorama is much more diverse, with Tiktok, YouTube and other platforms gaining land. He even pointed out that Tiktok has a tab of friends, which, according to a Tiktok executive before at the trial, only represents about 1% of the videos seen in the application. This would reinforce the thesis that Tiktok operates in a different market, more focused on entertainment.
Finally, Mosseri did not hesitate to launch the Chinese competitor in stating that “Tiktok is notoriously lax with her data”, in reference to the reliability of their statistics and the privacy standardsa recurring concern among Western regulators.
Growth, obsession and saturation
A phrase summarizes the company's philosophy: “Or you are growing, or you are dying slowly.” Mosseri explained that growth is everything in finish and confessed that 2019 was a turning point, with descent in feed impressions and staggement stagnation in stories. Despite having partially reversed the trend, he admitted that the proportion of friends content has decreased since then, although it is still essential.
The commitment to content creators It is another key lever. Instagram has invested up to 700 million dollars in a single year in incentives for creators, aware that they drive the creation of fresh content after the decrease in conventional user publications. However, Mosseri clarified: “I have never met a creator to not think that its content deserves more scope,” recognizing the saturation of the ecosystem.
Difficult decisions: security, messenger and internal tensions
Mosseri also reflected on his first months at the head of Instagram. Although he initially promised not to make changes, he broke that commitment to security and integrity, areas in which he promoted integration with Facebook teams. “It was painful. I lost credibility with part of the team,” he admitted.
Another revealing fragment places it in the middle of the tensions with the founders of Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, especially due to the pace of integration with Facebook and the fear of curbing the growth of the app. An internal email showed how Mosseri acted as a mediator between Zuckerberg and the founders.
