I doubt we'd see a criminal case against Meta here. As a practical matter, that would have to have been decided from the outset to protect the rights that attach in a criminal proceeding - Miranda rights, Brady disclosures, and so on, and it would be prosecuted by the DOJ instead of the FTC. And it's a much higher standard of proof - beyond a reasonable doubt, and I don't think the government could win that case. It's always possible that an executive could be criminally charged with perjury, but I can't think of a time that has happened in a case like this. And I don't think what Meta witnesses are saying is literally untrue - even Zuckerberg's statement immediately after a contradictory video was that it was "possible" he said what he said. We know it's possible because we saw him say it! Lawyerly wiggle words are probably short of perjury; but they do hurt credibility.
Good question. There's been a lot of questioning around "infrastructure." I think most people primarily think of hardware and I'd guess that most of this money is for hardware -- data centers, servers, etc. But there's also a software component - think systems, trust & safety, a coding platform and test environment, etc.
What's remarkable about all this testimony and email evidence is simply the level of fear on display. These enormously rich corporate executives basically live their entire professional lives in fear, which clearly doesn't lead to better decision making. It frankly comes across as pathetic and I wish everyone involved the absolute worst.
The contrast between this trial where the emails are open for perusal and the Google trial where communications where deleted is stark.
Question:
Is there any way this trial becomes a criminal trial?
how is it Facebook's executives can lie to a Judge and testify untruthfully about past emails and get away with it?
can Mark Zuck say this piece of evidence was about X when it was really so clearly about Y ?
is talking away evidence acceptable even if the Judge knows your lying thru your teeth?
Meta knows it bought Instagram and Whatsapp to stop competition.
When does lying about it now become more serious?
I doubt we'd see a criminal case against Meta here. As a practical matter, that would have to have been decided from the outset to protect the rights that attach in a criminal proceeding - Miranda rights, Brady disclosures, and so on, and it would be prosecuted by the DOJ instead of the FTC. And it's a much higher standard of proof - beyond a reasonable doubt, and I don't think the government could win that case. It's always possible that an executive could be criminally charged with perjury, but I can't think of a time that has happened in a case like this. And I don't think what Meta witnesses are saying is literally untrue - even Zuckerberg's statement immediately after a contradictory video was that it was "possible" he said what he said. We know it's possible because we saw him say it! Lawyerly wiggle words are probably short of perjury; but they do hurt credibility.
after our discussion today this happened....
Judge Rules Apple Executive Lied Under Oath, Makes Criminal Contempt Referral
.... good timing eh...
$60B in spending on infrastructure seems excessive.
I wonder what elements constitute infrastructure"...
Good question. There's been a lot of questioning around "infrastructure." I think most people primarily think of hardware and I'd guess that most of this money is for hardware -- data centers, servers, etc. But there's also a software component - think systems, trust & safety, a coding platform and test environment, etc.
Thank you for covering this trial! So informative.
What's remarkable about all this testimony and email evidence is simply the level of fear on display. These enormously rich corporate executives basically live their entire professional lives in fear, which clearly doesn't lead to better decision making. It frankly comes across as pathetic and I wish everyone involved the absolute worst.
I believe the government has offered to settle the case for $30 billion.
I wonder if Facebook is thinking lets go thru the trial... if we win great.
If we lose then we have to pay up to a maximum of $30 billion.
Does a payment of $30 billion change competition? No.
So I wonder why the government offered to settle and why for so low??
Instagram and Whatsapp are worth $650 billion.