Lauren Feiner

Washington, D.C., United States

Senior Policy Reporter at The Verge

Covering tech policy @verge | Formerly @CNBC | Most likely to have "just listened to a podcast about that" | she/her | Tips? Find me on Signal @ laurenfeiner.64

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Articles

Does Google think Meta is its competition?

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

Posted Apr 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM UTCLLauren FeinerDoes Google think Meta is its competition? Meta and the FTC point to different parts of Google’s filings to international regulators to reinforce their views of the market.
YouTube had its own failed foray into adding more social features.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

Posted Apr 17, 2025 at 7:22 PM UTCLLauren FeinerYouTube had its own failed foray into adding more social features. The FTC presents Filner with a post-mortem document about YouTube’s 2014-2019 experiment with adding functions like in-app messaging. “We learned that taking a page from social apps and bluntly asking for contact access in the YouTube app would likely lead to user backlash and rejection,” the document says.
The FTC calls Google’s Aaron Filner as its next witness.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

Posted Apr 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM UTCThe FTC calls Google’s Aaron Filner as its next witness. Filner is currently a senior director of product management at YouTube. The FTC seems to be trying to show how YouTube serves a different market from Meta’s apps, and is not a direct competitor in the market it’s focused on.
Meta didn’t overpay for WhatsApp, according to its investor.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

Posted Apr 17, 2025 at 5:58 PM UTCLLauren FeinerMeta didn’t overpay for WhatsApp, according to its investor.
WhatsApp’s founders ‘shot down’ suggestions of adding social features.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

Posted Apr 17, 2025 at 5:52 PM UTCLLauren FeinerWhatsApp’s founders ‘shot down’ suggestions of adding social features. Goetz is supporting Zuckerberg’s earlier characterization of the WhatsApp founders’ disdain for things like advertising and social features. He says that at some points, Sequoia tried to float launching a new app with social features as a potential business model, but the founders wouldn’t have it. “We were quickly shot down and dismissed,” Goetz recalls. “They were very clear”
Facebook considered offering an ad-free subscription after the Cambridge Analytica scandal

1 week ago | theverge.com | Richard Lawler |Lauren Feiner

The Verge logo. Maybe offering a paid opt-out from its targeted advertising could make everyone forget what happened? Maybe offering a paid opt-out from its targeted advertising could make everyone forget what happened? After the Cambridge Analytica data scandal broke in 2018, things got bad enough for Meta (then Facebook) that Mark Zuckerberg had to face Congress to try to explain what had happened.
Google loses adtech monopoly case

1 week ago | theverge.com | Emma Roth |Lauren Feiner

The US Department of Justice has won its antitrust case against Google, which accused the company of operating a monopoly in the advertising technology industry. “Plaintiffs have proven that Google has willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitiveacts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange marketsfor open-web display advertising,“ the ruling reads.
Sequoia tried to get WhatsApp to skirt Facebook’s advances.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

The Verge logo. LIVEFTC v. Meta live: the latest from the battle over Instagram and WhatsAppSee all StoriesSequoia tried to get WhatsApp to skirt Facebook’s advances. Koum forwarded Goetz a message he got from Zuckerberg in 2013, asking if he’d consider selling for a higher price. “Clear to us that you could get tencent, facebook and google into a bidding war (with microsoft and yahoo trailing). Suggest you avoid the lunch and continue with your craftiness on any reply,” Goetz counseled.
Zuckerberg was ‘very concerned’ Tencent wanted to buy WhatsApp.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

Posted Apr 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM UTCZuckerberg was ‘very concerned’ Tencent wanted to buy WhatsApp. That’s what WhatsApp founder Jan Koum told his investor Goetz in a 2012 email. Koum referred to it as a “rumor” Zuckerberg heard and worried Tencent would use the messaging app to compete with Facebook outside of China. “I told him I’ll let him know we ever do get an offer we would ever consider,” Koum wrote. “That made him feel better.”
Plenty of other companies were interested in WhatsApp before Facebook bought it.

1 week ago | theverge.com | Lauren Feiner

The Verge logo. LIVEFTC v. Meta live: the latest from the battle over Instagram and WhatsAppSee all StoriesPlenty of other companies were interested in WhatsApp before Facebook bought it. A 2013 Sequoia memo notes that, “Multiple companies with a combined market cap in excess of $750B have reached out to WhatsApp at various points in time including Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, Tencent and NHN.