Years after the Federal Commerce Fee sued Meta in a bid to halt acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the trial that may form its future is lastly underway. The trial kicked off final month when CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand, and it’s anticipated to final a number of weeks.
Fb’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram is a central a part of the FTC’s case against Meta. The federal government says Zuckerberg purchased Instagram to neutralize it as a competitor. When Instagram’s cofounder and former CEO Kevin Systrom took the stand, he didn’t precisely defend the transfer. Whereas Zuckerberg had testified Meta had helped Instagram develop, Systrom testified Zuckerberg noticed Instagram as a “menace” to Fb’s development and deliberately withheld firm assets.
Additional nonetheless, Fb’s resolution to pay $1 billion for Instagram — an app with no income and only a handful of workers — appeared like an unimaginable sum. Sheryl Sandberg thought Zuckerberg had overpaid for Instagram. In an alternate between the 2 from 2012, she stated, “Sure, after all it’s method an excessive amount of.”
There are extra nuggets, too. Like how Meta sees TikTok as an earnest menace, how Europeans aren’t shopping for the ad-free subscriptions (duh), and why Zuckerberg considered nuking customers’ good friend lists yearly to spice up engagement. Learn Karissa Bell’s full breakdown of the FTC v. Meta antitrust trial to date.
— Mat Smith
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Thinner, dearer?
Samsung is able to lastly launch its slim iteration of the S25. It says it’ll provide a take a look at “the subsequent evolution of Galaxy” units and unveil “extra concerning the newest addition to the Galaxy S sequence.” Then the teaser coaxed one thing “past slim.” So it’s the S25 Edge, even when Samsung isn’t saying the S25 Edge. The Unpacked occasion will kick off Might 12 at 8PM ET.
They aren’t.
The Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned the Nationwide Climate Service of doable assaults from an armed conspiracy group. In keeping with a report from CNN, the group Veterans on Patrol goes after authorities radars as a result of it believes they’re getting used as “climate weapons.” Regardless of its cooler-than-average identify, the NEXRAD or Subsequent Era Climate Radar is pretty mundane, utilized by NWS to detect precipitation within the environment. NEXRAD performs a significant position in finding thunderstorms and tornados. Nationwide Climate Service employees have been suggested to buddy up when working at distant radar websites and report something suspicious to the authorities.
Android 16, Gemini and extra.
Google I/O 2025 must be one of many extra thrilling tech keynotes in current reminiscence. Plus, for the primary time, Google has spun out a devoted Android showcase an entire week earlier. What can we anticipate to see in Android 16? We’ve had numerous hints at an upcoming design change to the platform, reportedly referred to as Materials 3 Expressive. A leaked weblog put up discusses the analysis behind Materials 3 Expressive and the way the visible overhaul led to motion components standing out extra and higher responsiveness on the customers’ half. Then there are Gemini AI updates, extra Google service updates and all the things else. We break down what we’re anticipating to see.
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