Facebook just turned 20, but don’t expect a party
Facebook hit a historic milestone Sunday, days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg was grilled by senators about some of the platform's controversies.
Facebook is now 20 years old, but don’t expect a big party.
The company hit a historic milestone Sunday, marking the day in 2004 when a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg went live with a new website. Initially open only to Harvard University students and then students at other colleges, it was known at the time as thefacebook.com.
The blue-themed app is still recognizable, although it has come a long way. Facebook now falls under the umbrella of Zuckerberg’s company Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, and Meta is worth more than $1 trillion, making it one of the most valuable American corporations, based on its share price. On Thursday, it reported $39 billion in profit for 2023 and 3.07 billion monthly users of Facebook alone, sending the share price up 20.3% the day after.
But for Facebook and Meta, the 20th birthday is hitting at an awkward time. Four days ago, Zuckerberg appeared before a Senate committee and was pressed into apologizing to parents who said their children died by suicides or drug overdoses that wouldn’t have happened without social media.
Zuckerberg, as Meta’s CEO and majority owner, was met by audible hissing when he entered the hearing room Wednesday. Over several hours, he faced intense questioning from lawmakers about child safety and whether the company is investing in enough resources to safeguard kids and teenagers.
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