What changed in this filing

/stocks — the workspaceLOADING

Item 1. Business

2026-01-29 compared with 2025-01-30 · 60 added, 124 removed, 90 unchanged (67% of the section changed)

Our mission is to build the future of human connection and the technology that makes it possible.

Our products enable people to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality (VR) headsets, and AI glasses.

We are innovating in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to build transformative experiences and capabilities across our Family of Apps and new platforms, and to advance our vision to deliver personal superintelligence for everyone.

We build technology that helps people connect and share, find and build communities, and grow businesses.

Our products enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) headsets, augmented reality (AR), and wearables.

We also help people discover and learn about what is going on in the world around them, enable people to share their experiences, ideas, photos, videos, and other content with audiences ranging from their closest family members and friends to the public at large, and stay connected everywhere by accessing our products.

Meta is moving our offerings beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented, mixed, and virtual reality to help build the next computing platform.

Our vision does not center on any single product, but rather an entire ecosystem of experiences, devices, and new technologies.

Meta is moving our offerings beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next computing platform.

Our vision does not center on any single product, but rather an entire ecosystem of experiences, devices, and new technologies powered by AI.

While the metaverse is in the very early stages of its development, we believe it will become the next computing platform and the future of social interaction.

Across our work, we are innovating in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to build new experiences that help make our platform more social, useful, and immersive.

Across our work, we are innovating to build new experiences that help make our platform more social, useful, and immersive.

Our AI investments support initiatives across our products and services, helping power the systems that rank content in our apps, our discovery engine that recommends relevant content, the tools advertisers use to reach customers, the development of new generative AI experiences, and the tools that make our product development more efficient and productive.

For example, Meta AI is an assistant that's available across our apps, on Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses and on the web.

It's designed to help people learn, get things done, create content, and connect with others to make the most of every moment.

We report financial results for two segments:

Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL).

Currently, we generate substantially all of our revenue from selling advertising placements on our family of apps to marketers, which is reflected in FoA.

Ads on our platform enable marketers to reach people across a range of marketing objectives, such as generating leads or driving awareness.

Marketers purchase ads that can appear in multiple places including on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and third-party applications and websites.

RL generates revenue from sales of consumer hardware products, software, and content.

We invest in our business based on our company priorities.

In 2025, we intend to focus on several key investment areas:

generative AI, our discovery engine, the metaverse and wearables, Threads, monetization of our products and services, platform integrity and community support, and infrastructure capacity.

The majority of our investments are directed toward developing our family of apps.

In 2024, 79% of our total costs and expenses were recognized in FoA and 21% were recognized in RL.

Our FoA investments were $75.25 billion in 2024 and include expenses relating to headcount, data centers and technical infrastructure as part of our efforts to develop our apps and our advertising services.

We are also making significant investments in our metaverse and wearables efforts.

This includes developing virtual, mixed, and augmented reality devices, software for social platforms, neural interfaces, and other foundational technologies.

Our total RL investments were $19.88 billion in 2024 and include expenses relating to headcount and technology development across these efforts.

These are fundamentally new technologies that we expect will evolve as the next computing platform develops, and many products may only be fully realized in the next decade.

Although it is inherently difficult to predict when and how the next computing platform will develop, we expect our RL segment to continue to operate at a loss for the foreseeable future, and our ability to support our efforts to build the next computing platform is dependent on generating sufficient profits from other areas of our business.

We expect this will be a complex, evolving, and long-term initiative.

We are investing now because we believe this is the next chapter of the internet and will unlock monetization opportunities for businesses, developers, and creators, including around advertising, hardware, and digital goods.

We are also working to develop the next generation of AI models and advance our vision to build superintelligence, which we define as AI that surpasses human intelligence.

Although it is inherently difficult to predict when superintelligence may be achieved, we are investing now because we believe this has the potential to begin a new era of individual empowerment, where people can direct superintelligence towards what they value in their own lives.

Family of Apps Products

5 unchanged sentences

Messenger is a simple yet powerful messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls.

Meta AI is an assistant that's available across our apps, as a stand-alone app, on our AI glasses, and on the web.

It's designed to help people learn, get things done, create content, and connect with others to make the most of every moment.

Threads is an application for text-based updates and public conversations, where communities come together to discuss topics of interest.

4 unchanged sentences

Many of our Reality Labs investments are directed toward long-term, cutting edge research and development for products that are not on the market today and may only be fully realized in the next decade.

This includes exploring new technologies such as neural interfaces using electromyography, which lets people control their devices using neuromuscular signals, as well as innovations in AI and hardware to help build next-generation interfaces.

In the near term, we are continuing to develop early metaverse and wearables products and experiences that help people feel connected, anytime, anywhere.

Our metaverse efforts include our VR, MR, and social platform initiatives.

This includes exploring innovations in AI and hardware to help build next-generation interfaces.

In the near term, we are continuing to develop products and experiences that help people feel connected, anytime, anywhere.

Our current product offerings in VR include our Meta Quest devices, as well as software and content available through the Meta Horizon Store, which enable a range of social experiences that allow people to defy physical distance while engaging in gaming, fitness, entertainment, and more.

To drive greater adoption and acceptance of VR we have introduced MR capabilities, which allow users to experience the immersion and presence of VR while still being grounded in the physical world, through our Meta Quest devices.

Our wearables efforts include our AR initiatives.

We have continued to advance our roadmap to include additional AI-enabled offerings such as the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, which feature Meta AI, our advanced conversational assistant, as well as other features such as hands-free interaction.

To drive greater adoption and acceptance of VR we have introduced passthrough capabilities, which allow users to experience the immersion and presence of VR while still being grounded in the physical world, through our Meta Quest devices.

Our wearables efforts include our AI glasses and long-term AR initiatives.

Our current AI glasses include the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses, which feature Meta AI, our advanced conversational assistant, as well as other features such as hands-free interaction.

As we continue our long-term efforts to bring AR glasses to market, in 2024 we also unveiled our Orion prototype, a pair of true AR glasses that overlay content on top of the physical world.

It does this with an industry-leading field of view and in glasses form factor for comfortable wear.

In general, while all of these investments are part of our long-term initiative to help build the next computing platform, our metaverse efforts also include notable shorter-term projects developing specific products and services to go to market, whereas our wearables efforts are primarily directed toward longer-term research and development projects.

For example, in 2025, we expect to spend approximately 50% of our Reality Labs operating expenses on our wearables initiatives, and the remaining 50% on our metaverse initiatives.

In 2025, we introduced Meta Ray-Ban Display, which combines our AI glasses with an integrated display built into the lens.

It comes with the Meta Neural Band, which is a wrist-worn wearable device that uses electromyography to let people control their AI glasses using neuromuscular signals.

In general, our Reality Labs efforts include shorter-term projects developing specific products and services to go to market, as well as longer-term research and development projects.

All of these investments are part of our long-term initiative to help build the next computing platform.

In 2026, we expect to spend approximately 70% of our Reality Labs operating expenses on our wearables initiatives, and the remaining 30% on our VR and Horizon initiatives.

We apply significant judgment in estimating this expense breakdown as there are certain shared costs across product lines, and our expectations are subject to change, including as the next computing platform and our business strategies evolve.

In particular, we regularly evaluate our product roadmaps and make significant changes as our understanding of the technological challenges and market landscape and our product ideas and designs evolve.

Revenue and Investments

We report financial results for two segments:

Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL).

Currently, we generate substantially all of our revenue from selling advertising placements on our family of apps to marketers, which is reflected in FoA.

Ads on our platform enable marketers to reach people across a range of marketing objectives, such as generating leads or driving awareness.

Marketers purchase ads that can appear in multiple places including on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, and WhatsApp, as well as third-party applications and websites.

RL generates revenue from sales of consumer hardware products, software, and content.

We invest in our business based on our company priorities.

In 2026, we intend to focus on several key investment areas:

AI, Reels and our discovery engine, wearables, monetization of our products and services, youth, platform integrity and community support, and infrastructure capacity.

The majority of our investments are directed toward developing our family of apps.

In 2025, 82% of our total costs and expenses were recognized in FoA and 18% were recognized in RL.

Our FoA investments were $96.29 billion in 2025 and include expenses relating to headcount, data centers and technical infrastructure as part of our efforts to develop our apps and our advertising services.

We are also making significant investments in our RL efforts, including developing virtual and augmented reality devices, software for social platforms, neural interfaces, and other foundational technologies.

Our total RL investments were $21.40 billion in 2025 and include expenses relating to headcount and technology development across these efforts.

These are fundamentally new technologies that we expect will evolve as the next computing platform develops, and many products may only be fully realized in the next decade.

Although it is inherently difficult to predict when and how the next computing platform will develop, we expect our RL segment to continue to operate at a loss for the foreseeable future,

and our ability to support our efforts to build the next computing platform is dependent on generating sufficient profits from other areas of our business.

We expect this will be a complex, evolving, and long-term initiative.

Our business is characterized by innovation, rapid change, and disruptive technologies.

2 unchanged sentences

We compete to attract, engage, and retain people who use our products, to attract and retain businesses that use our free or paid business and advertising services, and to attract and retain developers who build compelling applications that integrate with our products.

We also compete with companies that develop and deliver consumer hardware and augmented, mixed, and virtual reality products and services.

We also compete with companies in the development and application of AI, particularly with respect to the development of frontier AI models, as well as the development and delivery of consumer hardware and augmented and virtual reality products and services.

We also expect to face additional competition as we introduce or acquire new products, as our existing products evolve, or as other companies introduce new products and services, including as part of efforts to innovate through the development and application of AI and other new technologies as well as efforts to develop the metaverse.

Our product development philosophy centers on continuous innovation in creating and improving products that are social by design, which means that our products are designed to place people and their social interactions at the core of the product experience.

As our user base grows, as engagement with products like video, VR, and MR increases, and as we deepen our investment in new technologies, our computing needs continue to expand.

Historically, the increases in our computing needs have been driven by growth in our user base as well as engagement with products like video and VR.

Our increased efforts toward building frontier AI models have driven a significant further expansion in our computing needs and we expect our computing needs to continue to expand as a result.

We have designed and built our own data centers and key portions of our technical infrastructure, and a substantial portion of our technical infrastructure is also provided by third parties.

2 unchanged sentences

We are also investing in protecting the security, privacy, and integrity of our platform by investing in both people and technology to strengthen our systems against abuse.

Across all of these efforts, we are making significant investments in AI initiatives, including generative AI, to, among other things, recommend relevant content across our products through our AI-powered discovery engine, enhance our advertising tools and improve our ad delivery, targeting, and measurement capabilities, and to develop new products as well as new features for existing products.

We also believe in the power of open source innovation and have released our Llama models, consisting of state-of-the-art foundation models that are available for researchers and developers to use and build upon.

By making our Llama models openly available, we aim to accelerate AI research and development, improve our own products, and to foster collaboration and innovation within the broader tech community.

Across all of these efforts, we are making significant investments in AI initiatives, including generative AI and superintelligence, to, among other things, recommend relevant content across our products through our AI-powered discovery engine, enhance our advertising tools and improve our ad delivery, targeting, and measurement capabilities, and to develop new products as well as new features for existing products.

We have a history of open-sourcing in AI, including releasing our Llama foundation models as well as other models and tools, and continue to believe in the power of open source innovation.

By sharing these resources, we aim to accelerate AI research, improve our products, and foster innovation across the tech community.

We have not released everything we have developed historically and expect to continue training a combination of open and closed models going forward.

Sales and Operations

4 unchanged sentences

We also invest in and rely on self-service tools to provide direct customer support to our users and partners.

For our RL products, our sales and operations efforts utilize third-party sales channels such as retailers, resellers, and our direct-to-consumer channel, Meta.com.

These efforts are focused on driving consumer and enterprise sales and adoption of our Meta Quest portfolio of products and Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses.

For our RL products, our sales efforts utilize third-party sales channels such as retailers, resellers, and distribution partners, and our direct-to-consumer channel, Meta.com, and several Meta stores.

These efforts are focused on driving consumer and enterprise sales and adoption of our Meta Quest portfolio of products and AI glasses.

Historically, our communities have generally grown organically with people inviting their friends to connect with them, supported by internal efforts to stimulate awareness and interest.

7 unchanged sentences

We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, many of which are still evolving and being tested in courts, and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business.

These laws and regulations involve matters including privacy, data use, data combination, data protection and personal information, the provision of our services to younger users, biometrics, encryption, rights of publicity, content, integrity, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, data localization and storage, data disclosure, AI and machine learning, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, civil rights, accessibility, telecommunications, product liability, e-commerce, taxation, economic or other trade controls including sanctions, anti-corruption and political law compliance, securities law compliance, and online payment services.

These laws and regulations involve matters including privacy, data use, data combination, data protection and personal information, the provision of our services to younger users, biometrics, encryption, rights of publicity, content, integrity, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, data localization and storage, data disclosure, AI and machine learning, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, civil rights, accessibility, telecommunications, product liability, medical devices, e-commerce, taxation, economic or other trade controls including sanctions, export controls, anti-corruption and political law compliance, securities law compliance, and online payment services.

The introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we may take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, or other government scrutiny.

In addition, these U.S.

and foreign laws and regulations may impose different obligations from each other and create the potential for significant fines to be imposed.

federal and state, EU, and other international laws and regulations, which in some cases can be enforced by private parties in addition to government entities, are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change.

As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and inconsistently with our current policies and practices.

For example, regulatory or legislative actions or litigation concerning the manner in which we display content to our users, moderate content, provide our services to younger users, or are able to use data in various ways, including for advertising, or otherwise relating to content that is made available on our products, have in the past and could in the future adversely affect user growth and engagement, affect the manner in which we provide our services, or adversely affect our financial results, including by imposing significant fines that increasingly may be calculated based on global revenue.

In the United States, in 2023, the U.S.

Supreme Court heard oral argument in a matter in which the scope of the protections available to online platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (Section 230) was at issue, but it ultimately declined to address Section 230 in its decision.

In addition, there have been, and continue to be, various other litigation concerning, and state and federal legislative and executive efforts to remove or restrict, the scope of the protections available to online platforms under Section 230, and any such changes may increase our costs or require significant changes to our products, business practices, or operations, which could adversely affect our business and financial results.

We are also subject to evolving laws and regulations that dictate whether, how, and under what circumstances we can transfer, process or receive certain data that is critical to our operations, including data shared between countries or regions in which we operate and data shared among our products and services.

If we are unable to transfer data between and among countries and regions in which we operate, or if we are restricted from sharing data among our products and services, it could affect our ability to provide our services, the manner in which we provide our services or our ability to target ads, which could adversely affect our financial results.

For example, in 2016, the European Union and United States agreed to a transfer framework for data transferred from the European Union to the United States, called the Privacy Shield, but the Privacy Shield was invalidated in July 2020 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

In addition, the other bases upon which Meta relies to transfer such data, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), have been subjected to regulatory and judicial scrutiny.

For example, the CJEU considered the validity of SCCs as a basis to transfer user data from the European Union to the United States following a challenge brought by the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC).

Although the CJEU upheld the validity of SCCs in July 2020, on May 12, 2023, the IDPC issued a Final Decision concluding that Meta Platforms Ireland's reliance on SCCs in respect of certain transfers of European Economic Area (EEA) Facebook user data was not in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The IDPC issued an administrative fine of EUR €1.2 billion as well as corrective orders requiring Meta Platforms Ireland to suspend the relevant transfers and to bring its processing operations into compliance with Chapter V GDPR by ceasing the unlawful processing, including storage,

of such data in the United States.

We are appealing this Final Decision and it is currently subject to an interim stay from the Irish High Court.

Separately, on March 25, 2022, the European Union and United States announced that they had reached an agreement in principle on a new EU-U.S.

Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S.

On October 7, 2022, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards for United States Signals Intelligence Activities (E.O.), and on June 30, 2023, the European Union and the three additional countries making up the EEA were designated by the United States Attorney General as a "qualifying state" under Section 3(f) of the E.O.

On July 10, 2023, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision in relation to the United States.

The adequacy decision concludes that the United States ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the European Union to organizations in the United States that are included in the "Data Privacy Framework List," maintained and made publicly available by the United States Department of Commerce pursuant to the EU-U.S.

The implementation of the EU-U.S.

DPF and the adequacy decision are important and welcome milestones, and we have implemented steps to comply with the above corrective orders following engagement with the IDPC.

DPF replaces two prior adequacy frameworks which were invalidated by the CJEU.

A further invalidation of the EU-U.S.

DPF by the CJEU could create considerable uncertainty and lead to us being unable to offer a number of our most significant products and services, including Facebook and Instagram, in Europe, which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We have been subject to other significant legislative and regulatory developments, which together with proposed or new legislation and regulations could significantly affect our business in the future.

For example, we have implemented a number of product changes and controls as a result of requirements under the GDPR, and may implement additional changes in the future.

The GDPR also requires submission of personal data breach notifications to our lead European Union privacy regulator, the IDPC, and includes significant penalties for non-compliance with the notification obligation as well as other requirements of the regulation.

The interpretation of the GDPR is still evolving, including through decisions of the CJEU, and draft decisions in investigations by the IDPC are subject to review by other European privacy regulators as part of the GDPR's consistency mechanism, which may lead to significant changes in the final outcome of such investigations.

We also face potential enforcement from European privacy regulators other than the IDPC, including where those regulators consider they must act urgently or where they believe their concerns relate only to data processing undertaken in their individual jurisdiction.

As a result, the interpretation and enforcement of the GDPR, as well as the imposition and amount of penalties for non-compliance, are subject to significant uncertainty, and as it evolves, could potentially have a negative impact on our business and/or our operations.

In addition, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and other countries have enacted similar data protection regulations imposing data privacy-related requirements on products and services offered to users in their respective jurisdictions.

The California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA), also establishes certain transparency rules and creates certain data privacy rights for users, including limitations on our use of certain sensitive personal information and more ability for users to control the purposes for which their data is shared with third parties.

Other states have proposed or enacted similar comprehensive privacy laws that afford users with similar data privacy rights and controls.

These laws and regulations are evolving and subject to interpretation, and resulting limitations on our advertising services, or reductions of advertising by marketers, have to some extent adversely affected, and will continue to adversely affect, our advertising business.

Some states have also proposed or enacted laws specifically focused on the privacy rights and controls for users under 18 years old and their parents or guardians.

Like comprehensive privacy laws, these laws are evolving and subject to interpretation, and may restrict our ability to offer certain products and services provided to all or certain cohorts of users in those states, adversely affecting our advertising business.

In Europe, evolving interpretation of the ePrivacy Directive's requirements regarding the use of cookies and similar technologies may lead to regulators imposing specific measures in the future which could directly impact our use of such technologies.

In addition, the ePrivacy Directive and national implementation laws impose additional limitations on the use of data across messaging products and include significant penalties for non-compliance.

Changes to our products or business practices as a result of these or similar developments have adversely affected, and may in the future adversely affect, our advertising business.

For example, in response to regulatory developments in Europe, we announced plans to change the legal basis for behavioral advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland from "legitimate interests" to "consent," and in November 2023 we began offering users in the region a "subscription for no ads" alternative.

We are engaging with regulators on our consent model, including regarding compliance with requirements under the GDPR, Digital Markets Act (DMA), and EU consumer laws.

For example, in March 2024, the European Commission opened formal proceedings regarding the compliance of our "subscription for no ads" model with requirements under the DMA, and it issued preliminary findings in July 2024, reflecting its preliminary view that our model does not comply with such requirements, and indicated that it will conclude its investigation in March 2025.

In addition, the European Data Protection Board has published an opinion on the operation of such models under GDPR and European consumer protection organizations have raised concerns regarding our compliance with consumer protection laws.

In response to these developments, in November 2024, we began offering users in the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland who elect to continue using our services free-of-charge, supported by ads, an option to see less personalized ads,

which are expected to be less relevant and effective than our premium ad offerings.

These or any similar developments in the future may negatively impact our user growth and engagement, revenue, and financial results.

Similarly, there are a number of legislative proposals or recently enacted laws in the European Union, the United States, at both the federal and state level, as well as other jurisdictions that could impose new obligations or limitations in areas affecting our business.

For example, the DMA in the European Union imposes restrictions and requirements on companies like ours, including in areas such as the combination of data across services, mergers and acquisitions, and product design.

The DMA also includes significant penalties for non-compliance, and its key requirements are enforceable against designated gatekeeper companies as of March 2024.

The DMA has caused, and may in the future cause, us to incur significant compliance costs and make changes to our products or business practices.

The requirements under the DMA will likely be subject to further interpretation and regulatory engagement.

Pending or future proposals to modify competition laws in a number of jurisdictions could have similar effects.

Further, the Digital Services Act (DSA), which started to apply to our business as of August 2023, imposes certain restrictions and requirements for our products and services, subjects us to increased compliance costs, and includes significant penalties for non-compliance.

The interpretation and enforcement of the DMA and the DSA, as well as the imposition and amount of penalties for non-compliance, are subject to significant uncertainty.

In addition, some countries, such as the UK, India, and Turkey, are considering or have passed legislation implementing data protection requirements, new competition requirements, or requiring local storage and processing of data or similar requirements that could require substantial changes to our products, increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services, cause us to cease the offering of our products and services in certain countries, and/or result in fines or other penalties.

New legislation or regulatory decisions may restrict our ability to collect and use information about minors or also limit our advertising services or our ability to offer products and services to minors in certain jurisdictions.

For example, several U.S.

states, including Arkansas, Utah, Texas, California, and Florida, among others, have passed laws restricting our ability to offer services to minors without parental consent or otherwise limiting the services that we can provide to minors.

While enforcement of a number of these statutes (or parts of them) has been enjoined as a result of legal challenges to them, it is possible that the decisions to enjoin these statutes may be overturned, the injunctive orders may expire, and certain statutes are coming into effect that may not be subject to injunctions.

Should enforcement of one or more of these statutes not be enjoined, we may not be able to comply with certain of these statutes by their respective effective dates.

We may face similar challenges in light of recent legislation in Australia which imposes a social media ban for users under 16 years old that is expected to be effective by December 2025, requiring certain social media companies to take reasonable steps to ensure under 16 year olds do not create user accounts.

Legislative proposals and evolving interpretation of existing laws in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and other jurisdictions may also subject us to new requirements relating to allegedly fraudulent or illegal activities by third parties on our platform, which could cause us to incur significant compliance costs or make changes to our products or business practices, and could subject us to additional fines and penalties or liability for losses to users or other third parties in such transactions.

We are and expect to continue to be, the subject of investigations, inquiries, data requests, requests for information, actions, and audits by government authorities and regulators in the United States, Europe, and around the world, particularly in the areas of privacy, data use, data combination, and data protection, including with respect to processing of sensitive data, data from third parties, data for advertising purposes, data security, minors, data subject rights, safety, law enforcement, consumer protection, civil rights, content and content moderation, use of our platform for illegal, illicit, or otherwise objectionable activity, competition, AI, and machine learning.

We are also currently, and may in the future be, subject to regulatory orders or consent decrees, including the modified consent order we entered into with the U.S.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which took effect in April 2020 and, among other things, required us to significantly enhance our practices and processes for privacy compliance and oversight.

The FTC also continues to monitor us and our compliance with the modified consent order and initiated an administrative proceeding against us, which we are challenging at the agency and in federal court, that alleges deficient compliance and violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the COPPA Rule, and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and seeks changes to our business.

If we are unsuccessful in our challenge to the FTC's action and the agency imposes its proposed order in its current form, we would be subject to significant limitations, including on our ability to launch new and modified products or use data of users under 18 years old.

Orders issued by, or inquiries or enforcement actions initiated by, government or regulatory authorities could cause us to incur substantial costs, expose us to civil and criminal liability (including liability for our personnel) or penalties (including substantial monetary remedies), interrupt or require us to change our business practices in a manner materially adverse to our business (including changes to our products or user data practices), result in negative publicity and reputational harm, divert resources and the time and attention of management from our business, or subject us to other structural or behavioral remedies that adversely affect our business.

For additional information about government regulation applicable to our business, see Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

federal and state, EU, and other international laws and regulations may impose different obligations from each other and create the potential for significant fines to be imposed, including fines that increasingly may be calculated based on global revenue, or other consequences such as changes to our products or business practices.

The application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and inconsistently with our current policies and practices.

For additional information about government regulation applicable to our business, see Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors" and Item 3, "Legal Proceedings" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Human Capital

10 unchanged sentences

We value our investment in growing and keeping a highly skilled workforce.

We aim to provide all of our employees with regular performance reviews twice a year as we believe it is an important part of how we support their growth and career development while also recognizing and rewarding their impact at Meta.

We aim to make AI utilization core to the way we operate by providing our personnel access to AI tools and training programs.

We provide our employees with regular performance reviews twice a year as we believe it is an important part of how we support their growth and career development while also recognizing and rewarding their impact at Meta.

We also offer career development opportunities and work experience programs that extend beyond the physical and virtual classroom.

1 unchanged sentence

The Pulse of Our Workforce

Each year, we conduct company-wide employee surveys to help us understand how employees feel about working at Meta and what we can do to improve their experience.

We conduct company-wide employee surveys twice a year to help us understand how employees feel about working at Meta and what we can do to improve their experience.

Our surveys help us measure company, manager, team, and personal experience over time.

5 unchanged sentences

We generally offer full-time employees equity at the time of hire and through annual equity grants because we want them to be owners of the company and committed to our long-term success.

We have conducted pay equity analyses for many years, and continue to be committed to pay equity.

For example, in September 2024, we announced that we continue to have pay equity for gender globally and ethnicity in the United States.

Through Life@ Meta, our holistic approach to benefits, we continue to provide our employees and their dependents with resources to help them thrive.

We offer a wide range of benefits across areas such as health, family, finance, community,

and time away, including family building benefits, family care resources, retirement savings plans, access to legal services, Meta Resource Groups to build community at Meta, and health and well-being benefits.

We offer a wide range of benefits across areas such as health, family, finance, community, and time away, including family building benefits, family care resources, retirement savings plans, access to legal services, Meta Resource Groups to build community at Meta, and health and well-being benefits.

Our health and well-being programs are designed to give employees a choice of flexible benefits to help them reach their personal well-being goals.

1 unchanged sentence

The Strength of Our Workforce and People Processes

In early 2025, we announced changes to our diversity programs in light of the shifting legal and policy landscape.

We will continue to work to build an inclusive workplace where we can leverage our collective cognitive diversity to build the best products and make the best decisions for the global community we serve.

We work to build an inclusive workplace where we can leverage our collective cognitive diversity to build the best products and make the best decisions for the global community we serve.

We want our products to work for people around the world and we need to grow and keep the best talent in order to do that.

We remain committed to having a skilled, inclusive and diverse workforce with a broad range of knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, and perspectives because we believe cognitive diversity fuels innovation.

To aid in this effort, we have taken steps to reduce bias in our people processes and tooling, including our hiring processes and performance management systems.

We remain committed to having an inclusive workplace and people with a broad range of knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, and perspectives because we believe cognitive diversity fuels innovation.

To aid in this effort, we continue to implement ways to mitigate potential bias in our people processes and tooling, including our hiring processes and performance management systems.

Corporate Information

9 unchanged sentences

Such reports and other information filed by us with the SEC are available free of charge on our website at investor.atmeta.com when such reports are available on the SEC's website.

We use our investor.atmeta.com and about.fb.com/news/ websites as well as Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/zuck), Instagram account (www.instagram.com/zuck), and Threads profile (www.threads.net/zuck) as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

We use our investor.atmeta.com and meta.com/news websites as well as Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook profile (www.facebook.com/zuck), Instagram account (www.instagram.com/zuck), and Threads profile (www.threads.net/zuck) as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.

The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

2 unchanged sentences

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business