Facebook’s stock price has dropped nearly 50% since the company’s initial public offering in 2012.
Facebook is currently dealing with a lot of controversy, which is putting a damper on its stock price. The social media giant’s share price has dropped nearly 50% since its initial public offering (IPO) in 2012. Although the company is currently facing a backlash from users and lawmakers over data privacy issues, it’s not the only thing hurting Facebook financially. Here are some of the other reasons why Facebook stock is down.
What happened to Facebook’s stock price?
In early July 2018, Facebook was hit with a $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating an agreement it had made with the FTC in 2011 regarding user privacy. According to Bloomberg, Facebook will be forced to pay $3 billion in fines and $2 billion in “consumer relief” to settle charges that it had deceived users about how their data would be used by third-party apps on its platform.
In addition to this fine, Facebook was also fined $1.4 million by French regulators for collecting data on WhatsApp users without their consent. This comes after the social media giant was fined more than $122 million, along with Google and Twitter, for breaching European Union antitrust rules last year.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal started back in March 2018 when it was revealed that the political consulting firm had misused user data. The scandal has been ongoing ever since and led to many changes at both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica itself.
The most recent blow came when it was revealed that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lied about whether or not his company collects data from people who don’t have accounts. He said no during his testimony before Congress but later admitted that this isn’t true after all.
There are also concerns over how much information can be collected through Messenger Kids, which can potentially lead to more serious issues down the road if parents aren’t paying attention.
