Meta a Monopoly? Shopped at an A&P Lately?

The windows of an A&P supermarket are covered with posters advertising products, circa 1940. The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (or A&P) operated from 1859 to 2015. A.E. French/Frederic Lewis/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Commentary

The Federal Trade Commission is intent on pulling down Meta, originally Facebook, from the $1.3 trillion corporation’s heights in the social media firmament. In federal court on April 15, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was scrutinized by an FTC attorney on his motives in acquiring Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014—purchases given the green light by federal regulators at the time but now scorned by the government as a premeditated scheme to become a monopoly.