What Meta is: according to a court filling”

The evidence decisively demonstrated that Meta – once an online “Facebook” for connecting students – has evolved into a diverse global provider of entertaining and informative content that competes with increasingly similar social apps including TikTok, YouTube, iMessage, and others. Times, technologies, and norms of use change, and the trial evidence proved that Meta has adapted due to competitive pressure in this fast-moving industry. Today, only a fraction of time spent on Meta’s services – 7% on Instagram, 17% on Facebook – involves consuming content from online “friends” (“friend sharing”). A majority of time spent on both apps is watching videos, increasingly short-form videos that are “unconnected” – i.e., not from a friend or followed account – and recommended by AI-powered algorithms Meta developed as a direct competitive response to TikTok’s rise, which stalled Meta’s growth. The FTC now concedes this development “brings Meta into competition with TikTok and YouTube.” That concession means that there is no valid PSNS market, which is the sole market the FTC asserts.