Zuckerberg departs after attending a FTC trial that could force the company to unwind its acquisitions of messaging platform WhatsApp and image-sharing app Instagram, at US District Court in Washington, DC, on April 15, 2025. — Reuters
Seven years ago Mark Zuckerberg floated the possibility of spinning off Instagram from his social media empire amid rising regulatory scrutiny of the technology sector and an increasing concern that the photo sharing app was "cannibalising” the success of Facebook.
Writing in a May 2018 message to senior leaders at his company, the billionaire acknowledged that he thought the platforms may be broken up in the next five to 10 years, and it was worth exploring whether the executives should get ahead of this possible outcome.
