Why Mark Zuckerberg wanted to delete Facebook users' entire friends list

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO and creator of Facebook, wanted to wipe out users' entire friend in a list of proposed changes to Facebook, but it wasn't met with a warm reception from staffers.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Meta went head-to-head in court on April 14 after a six-year investigation by the FTC over whether or not the social media brand broke competition laws.

The US competition and consumer watchdog alleges Zuckerberg's company bought Instagram and WhatsApp in a bid to 'suppress, neutralize and deter serious competitive threats' of Facebook.

The complaint is accusing Facebook of using 'anticompetitive means' to defend itself against competitors by acquiring Instagram, WhatsApp and also 'the anticompetitive conditioning of access to its platform to suppress competition'.

Facebook could have seen massive changes (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

It states: "Today, Facebook’s course of conduct to unlawfully maintain its personal social networking monopoly continues, and must be enjoined. Facebook continues to hold and operate Instagram and WhatsApp, and continues to keep them positioned to provide a protective 'moat' around its personal social networking monopoly.

"Facebook continues to look for competitive threats, and will seek to acquire them unless enjoined. Likewise, Facebook’s imposition of anticompetitive conditions on APIs continued until suspended—at least for the time being—in the glare of attention from governments and regulators around the globe. Facebook will resume those policies or equivalent measures unless enjoined."

Meta has argued the trial 'will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows', stating Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp 'compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others'.

If Meta was to lose the case in court then Zuckerberg could be forced to sell both Instagram and WhatsApp.

The billionaire took to the witness stand, with various communications from Zuckerberg provided as evidence to the court.

In a 2022 message to Meta executives, Zuckerberg remarkably suggested wiping out Facebook users' entire friends list.

Mark Zuckerberg wanted to delete everyone's Facebook friends (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Zuckerberg wrote: "Option 1. Double down on Friending. One potentially crazy idea is to consider wiping everyone’s graphs and having them start again."

The Facebook head honcho's idea with this was that it could 'revitalize user engagement' by making people build their networks once more.

Perhaps unexpectedly, the idea was met with a lot of scepticism from fellow Facebook execs.

Tom Alison, who was the head of Facebook at the time, said: "I’m not sure Option #1 in your proposal (Double-down on Friending) would be viable given my understanding of how vital the friend use case is to IG."

The trial is expected to last for around seven to eight weeks.

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: "More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the commission's action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final."

UNILAD has reached out to Meta for comment.