Mark Zuckerberg’s private emails about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram more than a decade ago came back to haunt Meta at its historic antitrust trial this week – and the outcome of the case could ultimately hinge on whether a judge buys his attempts to explain them away,

Mark Zuckerberg was the leadoff witness in an antitrust case against Meta – one filed under the first term of the president he's now cozying up to.

Meta’s antitrust trial, in which the government contends the company killed competition by buying young rivals, hinges on unknowable alternate versions of Silicon Valley history.