Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that the golden era of social media being the primary space for connecting with friends and family is over.

This statement came as Zuckerberg testified in court during a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which accuses Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—of abusing its dominance in the social media market.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that sharing personal moments on Facebook has seen a significant decline among users.

“Even the number of new friends people are adding, I think, has gone down,” he said, as reported by Ars Technica on Tuesday (May 13, 2025).

The FTC claims that Meta has leveraged its dominant market position by acquiring its competitors in order to monopolize personal connections between users.

Meta, however, argues that it now faces intense competition from platforms like TikTok, which focus less on traditional social networking and more on algorithm-driven content discovery.

Zuckerberg pointed out that most social interactions today happen through private messaging of creator-generated entertainment content, rather than from posts shared by close friends.

This is the reason Meta introduced its Reels feature and adopted elements inspired by TikTok to remain competitive and relevant.

“TikTok is now larger than both Facebook and Instagram, and I don’t like when our competitors surpass us,” Zuckerberg stated.

He also confirmed that Meta has no intention of acquiring TikTok, largely due to concerns about its China-based operations.

However, Meta’s argument that TikTok is a direct competitor has been met with skepticism in court. The judge questioned whether TikTok can genuinely replace Facebook’s role in maintaining personal relationships.

Legal expert Kenneth Dintzer noted that Zuckerberg appears to be promoting a revised theory to explain why TikTok is indeed a competitor.

He is attempting to redefine the term “social media” in order to counter the judge’s doubts about TikTok being Meta’s actual rival.

“Zuckerberg’s theory suggests that if I open something on TikTok or YouTube and send it to a friend, that constitutes social media,” Dintzer explained.