Zuckerberg Says Meta’s Share of Time People Spend on Social Media Has Declined

Facebook’s and Instagram’s share of the amount of time people spend on social media apps has “gone down meaningfully,” Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on Wednesday, saying that “a lot of the interaction” people have directly with their friends has shifted to messaging apps such as Apple’s Message and its own WhatsApp.

Zuckerberg’s comments were one of the most striking moments on the third day of the trial for the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Meta, which seeks to force Meta to divest Instagram or WhatsApp. He also testified about the concerns at Meta as TikTok’s growth began to draw traffic away from Meta’s apps and its efforts to respond with its own TikTok-like feature, Reels. Zuckerberg also asserted that friend lists and user networks aren’t as valuable in social media nowadays—a remarkable statement from the person running the world’s largest social network—in part because of the ease of adding users with a piece of viral content.