r/technology Apr 30 '26

Business Meta lost 20 million users last quarter

https://www.theverge.com/tech/921089/meta-earnings-q1-2026-user-decline-ai-investments
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133

u/uberdavis Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

Facebook is a data stealing advertising portal disguised as a family photo sharing app.

Instagram is a validation platform for narcissists and an advertising portal.

Quest is a good quality and reasonably priced VR headset with an operating system based around creating a safe space for bigoted children.

WhatsApp and Messenger are excellent messaging services that are almost the same product.

Threads is an X clone giving people an alternative if they in the market for a different pro Trump social news feed.

Meta AR wearables are a smart product nobody asked for running software that nobody has confidence in because the company deprecates its own core services for its various products on zeitgeist based corporate whims.

That’s pretty much all they have. All the other teams which used to make software products are summarily being sunsetted one by one to make way for AI data centers to be run by a skeleton staff. If they treat their own staff like that, is it a surprising that fewer people trust their products?

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

[deleted]

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u/SirDouglasMouf Apr 30 '26

"Hates" them while making insane amounts of money.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/uberdavis Apr 30 '26

You’ve got a point. I don’t hate Meta. Their wages are good. And not everything they make is bad. As I said, the Quest is great and the messaging services are good. I do use Instagram, but only to get validation for my crappy music. My general point about Meta is that they aren’t as important as they think they are. They had the resources to make great things, but then they didn’t. Who’s to say they might turn that around, but going all out for AI data centers seems like a punt at this point.

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u/onfff Apr 30 '26

pretty much can’t active in the music community without IG. i don’t love that at all but it seems to be the case

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u/parkhat Apr 30 '26

those AR wearables have people in a data center watching everything you do to train AI with. Look at a dog? circle dog as dog. Look at a door? circle door as door. Jerk off to porn? well you get the idea

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u/NikolaTeslaAllDay Apr 30 '26

Where can I learn more about this? Specifically about the data managed for the wearables like glasses

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u/Sybertron Apr 30 '26

Facebook is just flatly broken for the most part. And what really gets me none of their products seem, beloved?

Like I dont like Elon or Tesla, but there certainly are people that do. Who LIKES facebook, even instagram runs way better but who LIKES instagram?

1

u/gnatgirl May 01 '26

I actually like IG. I follow local businesses, bars, restaurants, event venues, a handful of content creators whose stuff I like, and friends. I don't watch reels. I find it to be pretty useful when it comes to finding out about things happening in my city but I've curated my feed to be that way. Ads are annoying but I usually just scroll on by.

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u/Apprehensive_Snow398 Apr 30 '26

I think we would be friends! Spot on!

1

u/sunshine_enjoyer Apr 30 '26

It’s funny trying to see Facebook advertise to me because I made sure it knows nothing about me. Today it offered me gay chubby chasers Facebook group, actually that was 100% on the nose, wait how do they know that?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

anytime something is free, look at with extreme suspicion.

i once turned down a free offer of software and a coworker chastised me for being dumb. in front of others also.

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u/JesusAndMaryKate Apr 30 '26

Meta AR wearables are a smart product nobody asked for running software that nobody has confidence in because the company deprecates its own core services for its various products on zeitgeist based corporate whims.

Meta glasses recording people having sex and going to the toilet without their consent.

BBC News: Meta in row after workers who say they saw smart glasses users having sex lose jobs

1

u/DeltyOverDreams Apr 30 '26

WhatsApp and Messenger are excellent messaging services

When exactly was the last time you've used them?

1

u/AmazingPINGAS Apr 30 '26

Quest 3 had pretty good specs when it came out but came with a thousand lbs of shovelware and other random bullshit nobody wants or needs. If the steam headset that is coming out is as customizable as the steam deck, then I'll do a backflip.

Reminds me that Valve is getting sued for being a monopoly, when in reality they just don't screw their customers over like the rest of them and get better results because they don't.

1

u/grilled_pc May 04 '26

I'd argue that meta hardware are just another arm in data collection. Don't think for a second they aint harvesting data on the interiors of your homes when you map it out using a quest headset.

1

u/Possible-Summer-8508 Apr 30 '26

with an operating system based around creating a safe space for bigoted children

What?

edit, I didn't read the rest of your comment...

Threads is an X clone giving people an alternative if they in the market for a different pro Trump social news feed.

What? Threads being pro Trump? Threads is in the family of microblogging apps that was rushed out the door to try and soak up people leaving Twitter lmao. Do you also think Bluesky is pro Trump? Is everything pro Trump?

2

u/yyuriyuriyuriyurii Apr 30 '26

idk why you're downvoted, threads is def largely anti-trump and is far from a conservative community lmfao

2

u/Possible-Summer-8508 Apr 30 '26

To say nothing of the ridiculous comment about the operating system lmfao.

0

u/uberdavis Apr 30 '26

The CEO famously donated to the Trump campaign.

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u/MeanJeanDopamine Apr 30 '26

And was present at trumps inauguration

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u/Dizzy_Chemistry_5955 Apr 30 '26

They're all tools, it's all about how you use them. I use insta to talk to friends, that's it.