Meta shares drop 20% on Q4 earnings miss, weak outlook

Dupe (oldest with most comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30184104

Dupe 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30184560

Apple vs ad-tech is a really interesting battle. It shows the immense power Apple has in the consumer market today, where they can affect some of the largest businesses in the US unilaterally. Meta is in a very tricky position in that unless they put up an actual paywall users don’t really have any incentive to allow tracking. But putting up a paywall introduces a lot of friction, not to mention the adverse selection (the affluent people you most want to advertise to are probably the most likely to pay to not be tracked).

I know most people on here really dislike targeted advertising. I’m not going to speculate on the potential future problems that tracking could lead to, and I think it’s very reasonable to be concerned. But so far targeted advertisement has been a net positive for me. I’ve gotten to use some really good applications for free, and I’ve gotten ads that are actually relevant.

People spend more time on an app where they feel comfortable. If FB did nothing to clean up feeds, it would probably drive away both those eyeballs and the advertisers who don't necessarily want their brand to be displayed next to unfiltered user-generated content.

My friend group switched to Signal en masse. YMMV.