Internal emails show Zuck knew Meta might lose Instagram

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once considered the possibility of splitting off Instagram from the company, years before the FTC launched its antitrust case against Meta. 

In a 2018 internal email revealed in court, Zuckerberg told executives that while most companies resist breakups, history shows many actually perform better after being split up. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, this memo is now a key piece of evidence in the FTC’s lawsuit, which accuses Meta of monopolizing the social media market by acquiring rivals like Instagram and WhatsApp. (Via: The Verge) 

The FTC alleges Meta’s purchases were meant to eliminate competition and solidify its dominance and is seeking to undo those acquisitions. 

Meta strongly denies the charges, saying the case ignores both facts and the law. But, Zuckerberg’s own words suggest that he anticipated such scrutiny well before the government got involved. 

In his 2018 memo, he said there was a “non-trivial chance” that Meta would be forced to spin off Instagram and possibly WhatsApp within 5 to 10 years. 

He warned his executive team that the entire strategy of building a family of apps might not survive future political pressure.

At the time, Zuckerberg noted the increasing calls to break up big tech and predicted a future Democratic president might act on those demands. 

This would bring “extremely high pressure, brand damage, and distraction” to Meta, he wrote, during the Trump administration. 

Despite this, Zuckerberg said he wasn’t recommending a split, only that the idea wasn’t as “crazy” as it might seem.

Meta had acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, spending billions to expand its reach. But by 2018, the political climate was shifting. 

Zuckerberg’s internal comments show that Meta was not caught off guard by talk of antitrust action—it had been preparing for it. 

While the company is now fighting hard to keep its assets together, its CEO clearly saw a possible breakup as a real scenario long before regulators stepped in.

Do you think Meta should be split up? Or would you prefer it stay a single company? Tell us your opinions below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.