Daily Facebook users up again after first-ever decline

Facebook appears to have stopped losing users, even as its owner reported its slowest revenue growth in a decade.

The number of daily active Facebook users grew to 1.96 billion in the first three months of the year, parent company Meta reported on Wednesday.

That marked a turnaround from last year, when the social network reported a decline in user growth for the first time.

The drop wiped billions from the firm's market value.

Since executives disclosed the drop in February, the firm's share price has fallen nearly in half.

But shares jumped 13% in after-hours trade on Wednesday on the rebound.

Meta - which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp - still reported its slowest revenue growth in at least a decade.

Revenues in the first three months of the year were up just 7% compared to 2021, hitting $27.9bn.

Analysts say businesses are pulling back on advertising as they grapple with rising costs and economic uncertainty, stemming in part from the war in Ukraine.

And while Google and Facebook have long been the go-to sites for online ad dollars, they are facing more competition as newer sites such as TikTok draw users and online shopping giant Amazon gets into the business.

Google-owner Alphabet earlier this week said advertising revenue in the first three months of the year rose 22%, more slowly than analysts had expected, while the smaller Snap also warned of troubles.

Meta is also grappling with new privacy rules from Apple, which make it more difficult to target ads. The company said the changes could cost it $10bn in lost sales this year.

Mr Zuckerberg has said that the firm will invest heavily in virtual reality - the so-called Metaverse - for its next phase of growth. But that is costing it dearly for now.