Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, has made shocking claims about his former employer Meta Platforms Inc. According to Systrom, Instagram could have succeeded on its own without being acquired by Meta, and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg eventually viewed the app’s growth as a threat.
The claims come as the US government continues to scrutinize Meta over allegations of monopolistic behavior. Lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission are pushing to unwind the 2012 acquisition of Instagram, which now boasts almost 3 billion users worldwide and is projected to generate roughly half of Meta’s US ad sales this year.
Systrom’s testimony could bolster the FTC’s case against Meta, highlighting concerns over Zuckerberg’s treatment of Instagram as a potentially lucrative but growing entity. The incident serves as a reminder of the ongoing regulatory scrutiny of big tech companies like Meta, which has faced multiple antitrust investigations in recent years.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-22/instagram-s-systrom-claims-app-could-have-thrived-without-meta