Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings as well as its first-ever decline in users. The company’s market capitalization tanked—sliding from $898.5B to $668.4B.

Why should we care?
These developments should be read in conjunction with Meta’s decision to sell Diem, its cryptocurrency initiative. Meta is struggling to tap into seemingly limitless financial flows the way it once did through advertising. The company blames ad revenue’s decline on Apple, which rolled out a privacy update that lets iPhone users opt out of being tracked across devices. "The impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion," said Meta CFO David Wehner during last night’s earnings call. With Meta’s main crypto-based initiative officially dead—though its NFT offerings remain—the tech giant’s rapid growth seems to be slowing down to a trickle. We may see notable pivots in the months to come, such as attempts to tap into payments or moves to acquire up-and-coming fintechs. Either way, Meta’s latest chapter suggests that huge profits that hinge upon systemic privacy violations can only last so long.