Social media can look like an unwieldy beast when you are in court trying to explain your case to a jury. They might know about Facebook or Instagram, but they don’t understand the relationships between them. As an expert witness in Meta (both Meta organic and Meta ads), I know. I was there at Facebook’s birth. I remember Mark Z holding the little baby. I went to Harvard.  OK, I’m kidding. But as an expert, I have watched and participated in the rise of Facebook and it’s companion, Instagram.

And I saw Facebook (“Meta”) give rise to Instagram and WhatsApp. Now, all three platforms are under one business called META. As an expert witness in META ads, you could say I understand the company’s “genealogy.” To be clear, here are a few of the familiar companies under META:

  • Facebook: Launched in 2004, Facebook is the granddaddy of Social Media. It has over 3.07 billion users globally. It may seem old school to some, but the platform is still growing.
  • Instagram: Was acquired by Facebook in 2012 and has around 2.11 billion worldwide users. Its user base is multi-generational, spanning Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X. Even Boomers are beginning to use it.
  • WhatsApp: The messaging and multimedia platform was purchased by Meta in 2014. The jury might want to know that it’s a tool for sending text messages, instant messaging, sharing videos, participating in group chats, and making video calls. Essentially, it’s the Auntie who keeps the family together by ensuring communication is consistent and flowing.
  • Threads: Developed by Meta and launched in September 2024, you could call it the “child” of the Meta family. This tool provides text-based updates that are similar to Twitter’s microblogging platform. It’s still new, and we haven’t yet seen what Threads can do.

EXPLAINING META TO A JUDGE AND JURY

Each of these platforms within the family can intercede and work together. When a legal dispute involving META-owned companies arises, as an expert witness in META ads I can help reveal the “family secrets.” For example, META has achieved a level of dominance, which makes it highly appealing to fraudsters. Statista notes that the company’s family of businesses brings in 98.6% of the company’s revenue. I’ve provided expert witness testimony in cases involving media marketing defamation, sales channels, forensic SEO, domain names, and SEO intellectual property, among others . And I can also provide some insight to what may happen with META in the future.

For example, TikTok is going through some issues in our country and could be banned. If that happens, Instagram Reels is expected to pick up the slack and gain those lost U.S. users. That could be great for META, but it also presents opportunities for unfair digital marketing practices. If you’re an attorney who needs an expert witness for META, contact me and we can discuss its genealogy.