Meta Stock Fell After Instagram Ended Live-shopping; The UK Extends Meta Data Inquiry Until Summer

Meta Stock

Meta Stock (NASDAQ:META)

According to Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), the company will discontinue a live-shopping function on Instagram within the next month. As a result, Meta stock declined.

After the 16th of March, “Unfortunately, Instagram has decided to remove the ability to tag items during live broadcasts. As a result of this shift, we’ll be better able to prioritize the development of those goods and services that our customers value the most, “the firm states.

Guests may still be invited ahead of time, and live Q&A sessions can still be held without disturbing the other live-streaming elements. Users will still have the option to open and manage stores inside the Instagram app.

Meanwhile, a leaked note purports to caution staff from celebrating Meta’s recent stock price increase. (After dropping by 65 percent in 2022, Meta stock has risen by more than 29 percent in the most recent month. As of early Wednesday, it had dropped 2.2%.

Those at Meta were informed by CMO Alex Schultz in a memo. According to Recode, company executives said they would “keep their sights on the horizon” rather than worry about the response of investors or their stock price.

Schultz is quoted as stating, “Meta is still at the mercy of Apple (AAPL),” a reference to the financial blow Facebook/Meta received due to Apple’s 2021 iOS privacy improvements that let consumers block data collecting. Meta has warned that the change may cost it $10 billion in lost revenue annually.

According to Schultz, Meta’s Reels, a competitor to TikTok, has made some positive improvements. However, the app’s “monetization efficiency” is still “extremely poor.”

The inquiry into Facebook’s use of advertising data has been extended by the UK’s antitrust authority until the summer of 2023.

The Competition and Markets Authority had planned to complete its evaluation by the fall of 2022. Still, it has decided to extend “research and review, including of new evidence obtained,” until the summer of 2022 instead.

Initiated to find out “whether Meta could be abusing a dominant position in the social media or digital advertising marketplaces by its gathering and exploitation of advertising and single sign-on data,” the investigation has now expanded its focus.

Featured Image: Unsplash @ Dima Solomin

Please See Disclaimer

About the author: I'm a financial journalist with more than 1.5 years of experience. I have worked for different financial companies and covered stocks listed on ASX, NYSE, NASDAQ, etc. I have a degree in marketing from Bahria University Islamabad Campus (BUIC), Pakistan.