Meta Isn't Hitting 'Like' on Monopoly Claims

What's Happening

Legal

Meta Isn't Hitting 'Like' on Monopoly Claims

What's going on: Consider it the biggest legal poke ever: The Federal Trade Commission’s landmark antitrust trial against Meta kicked off yesterday. At the center of the case are Meta’s billion-dollar acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, which regulators say the tech giant intentionally bought as a way to wipe out competition. The FTC is pointing to emails from Mark Zuckerberg, including one saying Meta “had to buy” the apps because they were growing too fast. During three hours of testimony, Zuckerberg defended his company’s acquisitions, arguing his platforms offer “more of a broad discovery and entertainment space,” and face fierce competition from TikTok, YouTube, and X. Meta accuses the FTC of cherry-picking what counts as a competitor and warns that reversing mergers approved over a decade ago could set a dangerous precedent.

What it means: If the judge sides with the FTC, Meta could be forced to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC says a break up could lead to stronger privacy safeguards and a better user experience (think: fewer ads). Meta maintains a forced split would disrupt the experience of its 3.3 billion daily users, since its apps are deeply integrated. Meanwhile, the judge — who already dismissed an earlier version of the case — has voiced skepticism about whether the FTC’s claims will hold up. Legal experts say it’s going to be hard for the government to prove that Meta would not have been as successful without its acquisitions. There’s also the fact that undoing mergers approved years ago is almost unheard of — a breakup of this size hasn’t been attempted since Microsoft in the 1990s.

Related: How SCOTUS Is Approaching Trump This Time (USA Today)

US News

Is Harvard Rich Enough To Stand Up to Trump? 

What's going on: Harvard University is taking a stand against the Trump administration, even with more than $9 billion in federal funding at stake. Yesterday, school officials said they won’t comply with the administration's sweeping demands, which include changing how Harvard handles admissions, hiring, and campus governance. The White House also called on the school to drop diversity initiatives, decertify pro-Palestinian student groups, and discipline protesters who engaged in antisemitic activity since October 7, 2023. Harvard’s president says the school is already taking steps to combat antisemitism — but drew a line on political interference, adding: “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach.” In response, the Trump admin said it’d freeze $2.2 billion in multiyear grants, as well as a $60 million contract, to punish the school.

What it means: Harvard is the first university to push back against the Trump administration, which has threatened to withhold billions in federal funding from top schools. The Ivy League’s rare show of resistance comes as others (like Columbia University) have complied with the administration’s demands. Of course, Harvard’s in a better position to do so, given it’s the nation’s wealthiest university. Still, $9 billion in funding isn’t chump change, not to mention the $256 million in federal contracts the White House said it was examining in March. While Harvard’s president admitted last month that losing billions could jeopardize research, many students, faculty, and alumni have urged the school to take a stand. Now, it looks like Harvard is doing just that.

Related: A Columbia Student Activist Was Arrested by ICE at His Citizenship Appointment (NYT Gift Link)

Space

Blue Origin's All-Female Crew Made History, but What Kind?

What's going on: A Blue Origin flight saw six women travel to the edge of space yesterday. The flight carrying Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn was short (11 minutes). The spectacle? Anything but. In space: Perry sang (no, it wasn’t the song we expected) and tried to unveil a tour setlist as she defied gravity. On Earth: Oprah teared up watching as a nervous Gayle King lifted off. Then, there was the moment the crew safely returned, Jeff Bezos’s faceplant in the sand, and, of course, all the memes.

What it means: The company said the trip was a way to inspire girls to pursue STEM careers and “the next generation of explorers,” as Sánchez put it. That’s because while women have been going to space for decades, they’ve been largely underrepresented in the field. But, not everyone saw the launch as aspirational. Just ask Olivia Wilde and Amy Schumer. Critics called it a luxury experience wrapped in girlboss branding — more about promoting Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin than advancing women in science. Others said if this had been a NASA mission, it would've capped off years of training and investment in women astronauts. Still, in terms of Blue Origin’s stated goal — float, film, and share the view — it did just that.

Related: Lauren Sánchez and Gayle King Address the Critics (People)

Your Political Briefing

The week in political chaos.

“Oopsie” diplomacy: El Salvador’s president met with President Trump and said he can’t return a wrongly deported man to the US. He had a very bold way of putting it. 

Running it back: Former President Joe Biden is giving his first big speech since leaving the White House. 

For $500: Fox’s very specific new game show required contestants to go without phones, contact, or TV for the first 90 days of Trump’s presidency. 

Wait, what's going on air?: A new ad targeting young conservative men is raising eyebrows. 

Settle This

If you could, would you go to space? 

Extra Credit

Read

Itching for easy, breezy days spent by the pool — ideally, with a frozen drink in hand? While we can’t make summer come faster, Abby Jimenez’s Say You’ll Remember Me, might just be the next best thing. The clever and charming rom-com tells the story of Samantha and Xavier, whose date is so earth-shatteringly perfect, it could change everything — that is, if Samantha wasn’t moving 2,000 miles away the next day to care for her mother. Haunted by what could have been, Samantha and Xavier — you guessed it — wonder if they can overcome the distance in the latest novel from the BookTok fave, who “expertly weaves a beautiful budding romance with real-life struggles.”

Game Time

Start your Tuesday off right with Typeshift, a fun new game that challenges you to create words from a set number of letters. Warning: It’s very addicting. Start playing.