During the hearing, the subcommittee questioned Zuckerberg about the rival company's strategy of stealing apps and features. Congressmen also questioned Zuckerberg, saying Facebook was pressuring small companies to merge with his company. Zuckerberg has denied the allegations.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal had questioned Zuckerberg over the multi-billion dollar acquisition of Instagram in 2012. Many questions have already been raised on Facebook regarding this acquisition.
Answering Jayapal's question on Instagram, Zuckerberg said that copying features from other apps is a natural business strategy. Jayapal also mentioned a popular mail exchanged between Zuckerberg and Facebook's COO Shreel Sandberg in 2012.
Zuckerberg wrote that Sandberg would stop his rival from gaining a foothold and move quickly. Sandberg agreed with Zuckerberg.
Jayapal had expressed the view that Facebook is becoming more aggressive and agile in terms of imitating competitors. The email showed Facebook's strategy to mimic its competitors' features.
The email also included a meeting with Robin Lee, a senior employee of his own company and founder of Renren and Baidu of China.
Zuckerberg declined to comment on how many companies' features were copied by Facebook after the 2012 email exchange. Jayapal also asked Facebook if she had threatened any company that she was developing a new feature like hers.
But Zuckerberg replied that he did not remember. But before Facebook bought Instagram, it also threatened to use the Facebook camera app to get Instagram to follow its product.
In support of the agency.
0 Comments