A landmark antitrust case taking place in the US could force Meta to break up and sell off Instagram and WhatsApp to lesson its market dominance.

The US Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the company’s previous buyouts of Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the purchase of the companies was to neutralise competition against Facebook.

The FTC did approve Facebook’s 2012 purchase of Instagram, as well as its 2014 WhatsApp acquisition, but said it would monitor the outcomes these acquisitions had on the market.

The trial will challenge Meta’s dominance in the social media market. The company will likely contend that its triumvirate of socials – Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – faces regular competition from TikTok, X, YouTube, Snapchat, iMessage, and other services.

Meta is also expected to contend that its acquisition of Instagram lead the social media photo-sharing site to new heights, and improved user experience for customers.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s team seems confident about the results of the lawsuit coming into his favour, though Zuckerberg himself has been allegedly cozying up to President Donald Trump in order to get the FTC to drop the case.

Zuckerberg’s relation with Trump soured following a ban on Trump across Meta’s platforms as a result of the events of January 6th when hundreds stormed the US capital saying that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Since then, Meta has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and appointed Trump ally Dana White to its board.

The company has since rid itself of any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and cut its independent fact checkers.

Meta has condemned the case, saying that the company already got approval for the acquisitions from the watchdog.

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“More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the commission’s action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final,” a Meta spokesperson told the BBC.

This is despite the FTC saying it would monitor the effect the deals had on the market, and it being fully able to re-address deals if they are shown to negatively affect fair competition.

The FTC is facing its own internal issues, however, as the current President fired two commissioners from the five-seat group, both of which were Democrats, filling both seats by Republicans, Trump’s party.

The current chair of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, who was appointed by Trump, said that he would “obey lawful order” when asked by The Verge if he would obey an order from Trump to drop the FTC case against Meta. He said that he doubted Trump would make such an order.