In an opening presentation at the trial on April 15 (local time) regarding the long-running antitrust lawsuit since 2020, Meta provided a series of documents, including slides comparing the popularity of Apple's iMessage and Meta platforms such as Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
According to the information presented in these slides, Apple's iMessage is said to be much more popular than both Instagram and Facebook Messenger combined. Although the slides were later made public with some awkward edits, making content easy to restore, the data clearly shows where iMessage is superior.
An internal Apple document also appears next to user sharing charts between apps, and according to Apple insider, the document is authentic.
Meta believes that the popularity of iMessage proves that the company cannot be seen as having a monopoly in the messaging segment, at least when compared to Instagram and Facebook Messenger. To reinforce the case, Meta cited the strong growth of other platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, saying that rivals in this field are still necessarily thriving.
However, some opinions say that this comparison is not comprehensive. Instagram is not simply a messaging tool but also a multimedia content sharing platform, with a community, group ecosystem, and many other functions. Therefore, relying entirely on a single metric such as communication popularity as a basis for criticism is incomplete and can be misunderstanding.
Meta's antitrust lawsuit, which was rejected in June 2021, has been pursued by the US Commission on Commerce with a revised lawsuit in 2022. The case is still under trial and it is unclear when there will be a final verdict.
Due to the complexity and prolongation, it is likely to take many more months, even many more years before the conclusion is made.
