2 weeks Ago By Joe Gallop
As the high-stakes US antitrust trial against Meta unfolds, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom has testified that CEO Mark Zuckerberg viewed Instagram’s meteoric rise as a “threat” to Facebook and intentionally limited its growth by starving it of resources. The testimony comes on the same day Instagram launched a new video-editing app aimed at TikTok creators. According to courtroom reports in Washington DC, Systrom claimed that Instagram was thriving independently before Meta (then Facebook) acquired it for $1 billion (A$1.
5bn) in 2012. “The users, they just kept coming,” Systrom said, adding that the platform could have scaled effectively without Meta’s infrastructure. He also alleged that after the acquisition, Zuckerberg began restricting resources to Instagram, particularly in areas like hiring and content moderation, because of perceived competition with Facebook itself.
“He believed we were hurting Facebook’s growth,” Systrom testified. Internal emails presented in court showed growing frustration from Systrom over the years as he pushed for more investment in Instagram’s core capabilities. Despite Instagram driving significant revenue and user growth, Systrom said the app often received “zero of 300” requested hires for initiatives like expanding video.
Kevin Systrom These revelations are central to the US Federal Trade Commission’s case against Meta, which argues the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were anticompetitive and should be reversed. The FTC contends Meta’s actions eliminated emerging competition and harmed users by reducing innovation and safety. But even as Meta defends its past acquisitions in court, the company is now attempting to win over TikTok creators.
On Tuesday, Instagram announced the release of Edits, a free video-editing app designed to rival TikTok’s sister tool, CapCut. The app enables creators to add captions, swap backgrounds, apply AI-generated effects, and seamlessly post content across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and other platforms. The launch is part of a broader campaign by Meta to lure creators from TikTok.
Earlier this year, Instagram offered select influencers up to US$50,000 (A$78,000) per month to post content exclusively on its platform. It also introduced a bonus scheme that pays creators up to US$5,000 (A$7,800) for producing high-volume content across Instagram and Facebook. The timing of Edits’ debut is notable as TikTok remains under pressure from US regulators with a federal ban still looming over its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
.
