Meta admitted Facebook was "losing badly" to TikTok: court filings

Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri, openly acknowledged TikTok's dominance over Facebook and Instagram in key areas of social media engagement, during discussions dated February 2022, filed as part of the US Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) antitrust lawsuit against Meta, according to a recent report by TechCrunch.

As per the report by TechCrunch, in the FTC court filings, Zuckerberg described Facebook as a "challenger" that had "lost the mindshare and momentum" to TikTok, noting its superior ability to create a "feeling of shared context" where friends naturally encounter the same viral content without manual sharing. 

Mosseri agreed with Zuckerberg, stating TikTok was "beating us badly" despite being exclusively video-based, and correctly predicted it would surpass YouTube in watch time, a milestone TikTok reached in the US by 2021.  

The filings also highlight Meta's attempts to counter TikTok's rise, such as pushing Reels and improving algorithmic recommendations, adds the report. Executives admitted TikTok led in short-form video, content discovery, and creator tools, with WhatsApp head Will Cathcart pointing to its sophisticated comment-driven algorithm as a key advantage.  

These admissions could complicate the FTC's case, which alleges Meta stifled competition by acquiring rivals like Instagram and WhatsApp, suggests the report. The documents instead portray Meta as an underdog in a fragmented market, with Zuckerberg testifying last month that TikTok had directly slowed Meta's growth. 

The trial continues as regulators weigh whether Meta's past acquisitions unfairly cemented its market position.