Apple, Google And Snap Slam Meta's Egregious Handling Of Redacted Slides In FTC Trial

We expected many twists and turns in the ongoing legal tussle between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), but today's news is pretty wild. Google, Apple, and Snap have all ripped Meta for its "egregious" handling of redacted slides in the ongoing trial. The companies have accused Meta of not blurring out or obscuring sensitive information about them in the slides presented during the trial, which was never meant for public consumption.

Lawyers representing Apple and Snap labeled Meta's behaviour “egregious”. Snap’s lawyer suggested that Meta’s approach to handling sensitive information belonging to other companies was careless, and suspected Meta would handle its own proprietary information more carefully. An Apple representative voiced similar concerns and suggested that the incident could prevent the company from sharing sensitive information with Meta in the future. Google also described Meta's handling of the data as an error that has put Google's sensitive data at risk.

Snap has spearheaded the criticism against Meta. It accuses Meta of revealing sensitive information about Snap's internal assessment of its competitors, which it believes should have been kept private. Furthermore, Snap complained that Meta's lead attorney, Mark Hansen, also shared sensitive information during his opening statement. While Hansen has refuted this claim, Snaps’ attorney insists it was the case.

Hansen also responded to questions about Meta's decision not to inform Snap that it would be presenting some of the company's confidential information. Hansen said that Meta didn't want Snap to know how its case would play out during the trial, since Snap is a direct rival, and he believes Snap is working with the FTC.


Despite criticism of Meta's approach, the details of the information that was considered sensitive were not publicly disclosed. According to The Verge, which is privy to the slides, the exposed documents don't reveal much. It states that one slide mentions that iPhone users are likely to use Apple's messaging app over those from Meta and Snap, while another slide titled “Snapchat in 2020: Competitors Are Succeeding and Not Just Meta Apps,” revealed that both Meta and other competitors, such as TikTok, were experiencing growth.

In response to Snap, Apple, and Google's concerns, Meta's attorney suggested that an independent party should be responsible for handling the redacted files moving forward. This is a probably a good to best ensure transparency. However, this offer may not appeal to all of the companies, which may not want their sensitive information or data to be shared with yet another party.

This is surely not the end of the drama in this high-profile case. Stay tuned for more as the trial unfolds.