Meta's user base shrinks by 20 million last quarter

Despite seeing a noticeable decline in users, Meta plans to significantly increase its AI investments this year.

During a earnings discussion on Wednesday, Meta revealed that its "Family daily active people" metric—encompassing Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger—dropped by 20 million this quarter, compared to the previous three-month period.

According to Meta, this decrease is due to "internet service interruptions in Iran and restrictions on using WhatsApp in Russia."

Whether this is the full story is up for debate, especially since grouping user stats together makes it hard to see which platform is more affected.

If one intended to hide the dwindling numbers of a major social platform, this approach might be quite effective.

As this decline occurs, Meta has announced a new capital expenditure estimate for 2026, ranging between $125-145 billion, $10 billion more than previously expected.

The increased budget is attributed to higher prices for parts and, to a smaller degree, additional outlays for new data centers.

This adjustment, as described by Meta’s chief financial officer Susan Li, reflects a need to make up for previous “underestimations in compute demand” mentioned in an investor discussion.

In terms of revenue, Meta achieved its most rapid growth since 2021, rising by 33 percent from last year's $42.3 billion to $56.3 billion this quarter.

Not all areas are thriving, however, as the Reality Labs division, which focuses on wearables and VR devices, reported a $4.03 billion operating loss for the quarter.

This follows significant layoffs in Reality Labs since January, marked by two rounds of workforce reduction.

At the current moment, Meta's stock has declined by over 7% since the earnings report was disclosed.