Mark Zuckerberg floated the possibility of spinning off Instagram from his social media empire amid rising regulatory scrutiny of the technology sector and an increasing concern that the photo sharing app was “cannibalizing” the success of Facebook.

An antitrust trial against Meta has kicked off in Washington today (14 April) as CEO Mark Zuckerberg could be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been accused of eliminating competition in the tech space by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Meta’s antitrust trial, in which the government contends the company killed competition by buying young rivals, hinges on unknowable alternate versions of Silicon Valley history.