Mark Zuckerberg Testifies to Meta’s Virtual Reality Ambitions

The F.T.C.’s challenge to the acquisition is very unusual. Antitrust law is traditionally concerned with preventing deals in mature markets. However, Meta’s acquisition by Within could be a deterrent to competition in a new market virtual reality before it becomes clear whether that market will flourish. The F.T.C. could block the deal. The F.T.C. could block the deal and set antitrust precedents.

Both sides have high stakes. Lina Khan, F.T.C. Lina Khan, the F.T.C. chair and a prominent Silicon Valley critic has promised to monitor tech giants’ power levels and bring them to court more often. She indicated that she is open to taking on courtroom losses if they expand antitrust law.

Meta, which has spent billions of dollars developing virtual reality products over the years and has purchased many start-ups, is now trying to use the deal to make Within and other small businesses a force in the emerging field called the metaverse.

Mr. Zuckerberg was Tuesday’s star witness

Although he has been to Congress many times and made public appearances, the 38 year-old billionaire has never testified in court. Another instance was in 2017 when testified in federal court involving Oculus. Oculus is a virtual reality company Facebook bought for more than 2 billion dollars. This case involved allegations from a videogame publisher that Oculus had stolen its intellectual property. Facebook lost this case.

Just after 9:15 a.m., Mr. Zuckerberg took to the podium wearing a blue suit that was similar in color to Facebook’s logo, bright blue tie, and a mask. The courtroom was full of lawyers, journalists, and spectators as opposed to Monday’s half-empty room.

An F.T.C. representative testified for nearly two hours. A lawyer tried to prove Mr. Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm for fitness apps. This implied that he wanted to control the virtual reality fitness app market. The lawyer stated that fitness would attract more women and older users into the metaverse, and help establish Meta’s virtual reality products within a wider population.

Mr. Zuckerberg responded by saying that he had discussed fitness apps and how they could work in virtual reality, but they weren’t his main focus.

He said that while we often talk about games, “we also talk about social being most important to us,” in reference to the roots of his company as a social network. Meta is currently working to create apps that are devoted to productivity, work, and other general-use cases, he stated.

Meta announced it would purchase Within in Oct 2021. This was shortly after Mr. Zuckerberg had declared that his social network was and that it was being transformed into a metaverse business . Meta wrote a blog post about Within.