Meta is parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
After Meta failed to properly redact court documents containing competitive assessments, Apple, Google, and Snap lawyers express frustration at the lack of care around the sensitive data.
Meta’s antitrust case with the FTC continues, and it got off to a bad start Tuesday morning. Slides used in the hearing were made public, but Meta didn’t redact them properly.
According to The Verge‘s Lauren Feiner, who attended the hearing in person, lawyers from Apple, Google, and Snap complained about the poor handling of their sensitive data. Apple’s lawyer echoed Snap’s claims of “egregious” disclosures, citing that Apple can’t trust Meta will protect internal information going forward.
A full report from The Verge shared that Snap’s attorney said Meta had a “cavalier approach and casual disregard” of the other companies swept into the case. They suggested that Meta would have treated the data with more care if it were its own.
There’s been a tit-for-tat between Meta and Snap in this case in particular. Meta revealed data Snap considered confidential during opening statements, while Meta claims it didn’t know anything it shared was considered confidential.
The data revealed about Apple pertains to iMessage, which shows iPhone users overwhelmingly use Messages over Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and other platforms. Out of all users polled, 88.39% said they used Messages versus 37.55% Facebook Messenger, for example.
Meta is arguing to the FTC that it does not have a monopoly on social media platforms and is using the existence of its competitors as an example. The FTC could pursue breaking Instagram and WhatsApp away from Meta if it rules against Meta in the case.
