Meta Has Entered Its Death Spiral

"Since those salad days, its trajectory has never been quite the same. Sure, it's maintained market share with a series of cynical acquisitions of would-be competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp, but Facebook's feeds have been inexorably taken over by industrial-scale engagement bait and sleazy ads as users failed to stick around."

"By 2026, after a failed pivot to the Metaverse - oh yeah, it changed its name to Meta back in 2021 - scrolling Facebook feels like an infinite timeline of AI slop, ads, and lazy misinformation, none of which the company seems to have an iota of interest in cleaning up."

"Meta's earnings are starting to show the strain from years of growing consumer disaffection and reckless spending. The latest earnings, released on April 29, revealed a dip in user numbers for the first time since it started reporting these figures. And the slumping stock confirms what we have all known in our guts for a while: This is a company entering its zombie era."

"Death is different on the internet. Lifeless companies like AOL and Yahoo are still technically with us. You can visit their websites. They have customers. They may even be profitable, as they cut staff and monetize their last remnants of traffic. But they are, as the kids say, peak cri"

Facebook launched in 2004 with exclusivity for Harvard students, then expanded to other elite colleges before opening to public accounts in 2006. The resulting hype led to a major IPO in 2012. Growth later relied on acquisitions of potential competitors such as Instagram and WhatsApp, while user experience shifted toward engagement bait, ads, and misinformation. A pivot to the Metaverse failed, and the company rebranded as Meta in 2021. By 2026, scrolling is described as dominated by AI-generated low-quality content, advertising, and misinformation. Earnings show strain, including a dip in user numbers for the first time since reporting began, alongside slumping stock suggesting a move into a “zombie era.”

Read at Futurism