When Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, it seemed like a big gamble for an unproven little app. Six years later, that little app — along with Messenger and WhatsApp — are serving as Facebook’s safety net for a future that could find its flagship service on the sidelines.
Sure, Facebook reigns in social media today, and this is not likely to change soon. Still, amid the company’s seemingly endless troubles over elections meddling, misinformation, privacy lapses, hacking and hate speech, the idea that Facebook may not always be on top has begun to take hold.
“Facebook could collapse,” said David Kirkpatrick, who wrote a 2010 book on Facebook’s early history.
In an interview, he said the elections manipulations issue “could get so terrifying that advertisers could start…