Meta's strategy to copy TikTok was canny to avoid break-up

#325: The similarities are making it tricky for the judge to decide whether Meta's a monopolist or just another fish in the sea...

The fight to decide whether Meta is or isn’t like TikTok is hotting up. It feels ridiculous, bit this might well be the decider on whether the social network is broken up.

The Federal Trade Commission is in court arguing that Meta is so utterly dominant in social networking that it needs to sell Instagra and WhatsApp.

That would be disastrous for Meta as Insta is its fastest growing ad product and WhatsApp is two thirds of its total traffic. Facebook is kinda meh in that company.

To win the case, the FTC must prove that Meta is in a class of its own. Meta’s lawyers are arguing it’s not, and it faces competition from TikTok, YouTube, and more.

This is the real fight, and the latest evidence has begun to see whether Meta and TikTok are the same…

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Before we dive in, just some other quick news on how much tax Meta pays in Australia, where I live.

Australia’s Financial Review reported it paid just $44 million in tax on the estimated $5 billion it earned in Australia last year, accounts filed with authorities revealed.

That’s an effective tax rate of 4.4 per cent. Australian businesses pay 30 per cent. I pay more than 44 per cent.

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Join me and team from Canva and Flourish to explore the art of the possible in New York. It’s free, but places are limited so register now.

Now let’s get back to the trial…