Facebook owner Meta sees biggest ever stock market loss in 18 years

This comes as Meta’s stock plummeted 26 per cent, disappointing its investors.

In perhaps the biggest loss for the US firm, Meta Platforms' stock market value slumped by more than $230bn (£169bn) on Thursday.

The company's fourth-quarter profits of $3.67 per share fell short of $3.85.

Facebook's daily active users (DAUs) drop was also something witnessed by the social media giant for the first time in its 18-year history.

The company's share price drop also saw its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's net worth fall by $31bn, Bloomberg Billionaires Index stated.

However, even after the drop, Zuckerberg's estimated net worth stands at $90bn, indicating that he still continues to be one of the richest people in the world.

Meta's stock market plunge came on the eve of the 18th anniversary of the founding of Facebook.

According to reports, Meta took a big hit from Apple’s privacy changes, with the former adding that it expects the feature to decrease the company’s 2022 revenue by about $10 billion.

Last year Apple brought in its App Tracking Transparency policy, which lets people choose whether or not they want to be tracked around the internet by companies, like Meta.

It helps these companies sell those users' information to advertisers.

The change in the policy brought in a major problem for Facebook as it banks on the mechanism of finding information out about users and then sells it to advertisers for earning profit.