Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to Zuckerberg, the problem is competition from TikTok, not growing disenchantment with a woke platform which censors conversations and cancels law abiding members with large followings.

Facebook loses $237BN in largest one-day drop in stock market HISTORY: Zuckerberg warns staff he might CRY over ‘scratched eye’ as shares fall 26% – dragging Nasdaq down 3.7% – and he drops out of Forbes ten richest after users decline

• Facebook’s plunging stock price weighed on world markets on Thursday, dragging down major stock indexes
• In a company-wide meeting that same day, he appeared red-eyed and said he might cry due to a scratched eye
• He cited an ‘unprecedented level of competition’ from TikTok and told employees to focus on video
• Shares in Facebook owner Meta fell 24% in morning trading after the company’s dismal earnings report
• The decline marked Facebook’s worst one-day loss since its Wall Street debut in 2012
• The company’s overall value dropped by $200 billion, a figure greater than the entire Greek economy 
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw $29 billion erased from his net worth 

By ADAM MANNO and KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and WIRES
PUBLISHED: 03:28 AEDT, 4 February 2022 | UPDATED: 18:37 AEDT, 4 February 2022

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told his employees to focus on video products and warned that he might cry from a scratched eye during a virtual company-wide meeting Thursday after the social media giant lost $237 billion – the biggest single-day loss ever recorded.

Shares in Facebook owner Meta fell 26 percent Thursday when the markets closed, after the social media giant issued a dismal forecast and reported its first decline in daily active users.  Zuckerberg saw at least $29.7 billion erased from his net worth. 

The tech titan was the world’s seventh wealthiest person on Wednesday, with a net worth of $113.1billion. But by market close on Thursday, he dropped off Forbes‘ top 10 list of billionaires – to No. 12 – as his personal net worth plunged to $83.4 billion. 

…

Zuckerberg told his employees that the drop was due to a weak revenue forecast as the company faces an ‘unprecedented level of competition’ from TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

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The so-called FAANG group of Facebook, Amazon, Apple , Netflix and Google’s Alphabet has seen around $400 billion in market capitalization wiped off in the opening weeks of 2022 as cheaper segments of the markets become more attractive while central banks taper stimulus.

Other social media stocks were also hit hard in pre-market trading on Thursday, including Twitter, Pinterest and Spotify. Spotify has been beset by a row over COVID vaccination misinformation and also released disappointing results.

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Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10473475/Facebook-stock-plunges-24-rattling-world-markets-dragging-Nasdaq-2.html

Zuckerberg blames Chinese owned TikTok. I have no doubt TikTok’s snappy interface is providing stiff competition against Facebook’s rather clunky 90s blue screen themed design.

But Facebook has also been doing their absolute best to alienate much of their former audience, by censoring or excluding people whose views Zuckerberg does not approve.

Given a sizeable portion of Facebook’s audience vote for or express support for views that Zuckerberg has targeted, given that many of the people or organisations targeted have huge followings, it is no mystery why Facebook and other Silicon Valley wokerati are encountering difficulties with user engagement.

Even if Facebook realises their mistake, it will be difficult to win back the trust of those they bullied and excluded. Upstarts like GETTR, Parler, Gab and DuckDuckGo are busy grabbing a slice of the gigantic market opportunity Silicon Valley incumbents created through their own stupidity, and now have their own loyal followings.

Sooner or later shareholders in woke silicon valley firms will start demanding real answers. Next time it might not be so easy to brush off questions with a glib one liner, like blaming it all on TikTok.