Zuckerberg defends Instagram deal against US antitrust probe

Mark Zuckerberg tried to knock down criticism that Facebook Inc’s acquisition of Instagram harmed competition and should have been blocked by US antitrust enforcers.

The Facebook chief executive officer told investors Wednesday that Instagram at the time of the 2012 deal wasn’t a true competitor to the social media giant and that it only grew to what it became today because of Facebook’s resources.

“I know it can be really hard given how well things have gone to look back and remember what the world was like at the time that we made this acquisition,” he said on the company’s earnings call, “but our outlook was really different then and the outcome was not at all guaranteed.”