WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton said that his messaging company had no plans to build social networking features to compete with Facebook before he sold the company to Mark Zuckerberg, a claim that bolsters Meta’s defense as it faces federal antitrust allegations.

“We had no ambition to build Facebook-like functionality like a feed or any Facebook-like features,” Acton said Tuesday during testimony at a federal courthouse in Washington. He also said that WhatsApp could have stuck with a subscription business instead of selling targeted ads if the service had remained independent.

Acton’s comments came as part of the US Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust trial against Meta Platforms Inc., which is in its sixth week. The agency alleges that Meta has created an illegal social networking m

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