During an antitrust trial on Thursday, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri testified that TikTok poses a serious threat to Instagram’s future, revealing that the Meta-owned app faced a sharp decline in user engagement when he took over in 2018. According to internal estimates from 2019, about 23% of the drop in US user time on Instagram was attributed to TikTok. The trial centers on the US government’s claim that Meta used acquisitions such as Instagram to monopolize the personal social networking market. Prosecutors argue that Instagram and Snapchat are distinct from entertainment platforms like YouTube and TikTok. An internal 2018 email from Mark Zuckerberg warned Mosseri that shifting too far toward public figure content would erode Instagram’s social core – an idea Mosseri echoed at the trial, while admitting friend-centric content has since declined. [the Verge]
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