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Meta defends past acquisitions in FTC trial: The case could force Instagram and WhatsApp divestitures, disrupting ad buying and reshaping tech merger norms.

Despite soaring profits, it continues layoffs to streamline operations in key divisions like WhatsApp and Instagram.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss if folks will start consuming news on WhatsApp, how people get their news on digital channels, and some interesting generational gaps that exist regarding social media news consumption. Join host Marcus Johnson, along with director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and vice president of media, content, and strategy Henry Powderly for the conversation.

Instagram鈥檚 value wanes for publishers: Ad spend and content posting drop as WhatsApp Channels gains traction for direct audience engagement.

WhatsApp Business account users will grow by double digits YoY. In 2025, we expect WhatsApp to have 321.2 million business account users worldwide, a 12.7% bump YoY. We expect double-digit growth next year as well, though it is slowing down.

If the court agrees with the FTC, a separate trial could force Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. Looking back: When Meta purchased Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, the app only had about 30 million users. WhatsApp was considerably bigger when Meta bought it for $22 billion in 2014, per Reuters, with over 450 million users.

Signal had 70 million active users in 2024, many of whom are former WhatsApp users, per BusinessofApps. But despite its sudden popularity, Signal鈥檚 user base is still far behind competing messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WeChat, and Discord. A heated debate on security: The Signalgate incident surfaced how encrypted tools like Signal are used in government communications.

Zooming out: The threat comes at a difficult time for Meta as it heads into an antitrust trial led by the Federal Trade Commission that could force the company to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. Instagram alone generates over half of Meta鈥檚 massive ad revenues, per our forecast. Losing the app would inevitably cause immense damage to Meta鈥檚 bottom line.

In January 2024, Meta complied with DMA requirements to let EU users decouple their WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. Paths to compliance: Fines are the EC鈥檚 main hammer when pushing companies to comply with laws like the DMA, but sometimes the threat of a complicated investigation process is enough to change a Big Tech player鈥檚 decisions.

The deal integrates UFC with Meta across Meta鈥檚 platforms and products, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, Meta AI, Meta Quest, and Meta glasses. The partnership will see Meta branding featured in UFC鈥檚 Octagon ring for 鈥淔ight Night鈥� and pay-per-view events.

Key stats: 69% of millennials, 57% of Gen Zers, and 54% of Gen Xers worldwide prefer messaging apps like Skype and WhatsApp for customer service, per Genesys, indicating that the audience exists for Skype but Microsoft once more missed out on capitalizing on an  opportunity.

The news: Meta鈥檚 AI companions, available on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, have engaged in sexually explicit conversations with users identified as minors, per a monthslong investigation by The Wall Street Journal.

Its AI is also available across form factors in Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram apps. Our take: The transition to Gemini may be seamless for Google Assistant users, especially since the voice prompts to wake up the assistant remain the same. All of the Big Tech companies seem to be replacing their traditional assistants and searches with AI-only solutions.

The agency argues that Meta鈥檚 acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were designed to neutralize competition. The trial, set to begin April 14, could have far-reaching implications for the ad industry. If the court agrees, Meta could be forced to divest or make sweeping changes to its ad platform.

The FTC is looking to break up Meta's business by forcing it to separate from Instagram and WhatsApp, while Amazon and Apple face their own antitrust challenges. The timing is particularly significant as Google is in the remedy trial for its search case. 鈥淭here's a good chance that the remedies in both of these cases will be intertwined,鈥� Mitchell-Wolf noted.

Meta鈥檚 Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram dominate Colombia鈥檚 digital landscape, but they also serve as primary tools for traffickers to recruit, groom, and exploit minors, per Bloomberg. Putting platforms on notice: 52.3% of Colombian children live in monetary poverty, per UNICEF, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation.

In January 2024, Nubank division Nu Mexico partnered with local fintech F茅lix Pago to launch a WhatsApp-based remittance service for its 5.5 million users in Mexico. This partnership caters to the 80.1% of mobile phone owners in Mexico who use WhatsApp. And F茅lix Pago's $2.99 flat fee per transaction undercuts the market average, making it an accessible option. High-yield savings accounts.

Meta's WhatsApp brought in over $1 billion in business revenue in 2024, per our December 2024 forecast. For Discord, their association with video game players has proven to be both a strength and a challenge when approaching how to fold in advertising. 44% of US teens who self-identify as gamers use Discord, according to Pew Research.

The monopoly trial, which started earlier this month, takes aim at Meta鈥檚 acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. Depending on the outcome, Meta could be forced to offload Instagram and WhatsApp鈥攖he former of which will be its primary source of revenues in the US this year, per our forecasts. Instagram will drive more ad revenues than Facebook this year.

Similar to Meta鈥檚 click-to-message ads鈥攚hich let users chat with a brand on Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp鈥擳ikTok is testing ads that let users start conversations with businesses in the US. It鈥檚 also testing ads that direct users to Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to have those conversations. Brands are putting a small portion of budgets toward messaging-related ads.