At today’s antitrust trial involving Meta, attorneys for Apple, Google, and Snap voiced their frustration over Meta’s presentation slides from Monday, which The Verge reported had redactions that were easy to remove. The legal representatives from Apple and Snap labeled the oversight as “egregious,” with Apple’s lawyer suggesting that this might impede future trust in Meta with its sensitive data. Google’s lawyer also criticized Meta for potentially compromising the search giant’s information due to this error.
The remarks made by the attorneys were communicated by The Verge’s Lauren Feiner, who is attending the trial. Neither Apple, Google, nor Meta provided immediate comments on the situation when approached by The Verge, and Snap declined to comment.
Snap’s lawyer criticized Meta’s “cavalier approach and casual disregard” for involving other companies in the case, questioning whether Meta would have been as negligent if its own data were at risk. Meta’s attorney, Mark Hansen, recommended using an independent third party, separate from the trial team, to review redactions.
Even before the redaction issue surfaced, Snap had been displeased with what it deemed as confidential data being divulged during opening statements. Although Snap didn’t specify what it considered confidential, Hansen maintained that nothing confidential had been disclosed, a stance that Snap’s attorney disputed.
Hansen explained that Meta didn’t notify Snap about the inclusion of certain information in the trial as he believed Snap, being a significant competitor, was cooperating with the FTC.
While the documents were redacted for confidentiality, they didn’t disclose particularly sensational information. One document stated that iPhone users preferred Apple’s Messages app over Meta and Snap’s offerings. Another slide, titled “Snapchat in 2020: Competitors Are Succeeding and Not Just Meta Apps,” highlighted that its rivals, including Meta’s apps and TikTok, were “thriving.”
For Snap and the other companies involved, the significance lay not in how revealing the information was but in the principle of the matter. Snap’s attorney accused Meta’s lead counsel of publicly referencing Snap’s competitive strategies, which were meant to be kept confidential.
