Facebook's profits hit $11.2 billion last year

The giant company said in a recent statement that it attained a profit of $11.2 billion in the last three months of 2020, an increase of more than 50% from 2019. 

Facebook's revenue also rose 33% to roughly $28 billion during the quarter despite the pandemic, showing the stability of its core advertising business.

Criticism of Facebook's policies continue to rise 

Although Facebook's business continues to improve, it is facing accumulating examination from regulators over its acquisitions, and from critics, for the role, the platform may have played in circulating lies about the US presidential election.

During a call with analysts, CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the social media platform plans to limit the amount of political content and press releases on its app. 

He added that most of the feedback the company has been receiving from its community is about politics. He said most of the Facebook community stated that they don't want politics and fighting to dominate their experience on the platform. 

Zuckerberg also said that Facebook plans to stop recommending civic and political groups to its users. 

Facebook's users increased by over 14% 

Facebook's subsidiaries- Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp- recorded over 3.3 billion monthly active users. The company experienced a growth of up to 14%.

Zuckerberg stated that 2020 was a good year for Facebook, as people and businesses increased their use of the app during the lockdowns caused by the pandemic. 

Facebook is currently handling the spread of harmful content on its platform. A tech watchdog group found that several posts promoting unrest during inauguration week disseminated on the site, despite its crackdown since the January 6 Capitol riots.

Dozens of states and the federal governments also sued Facebook last month, accusing the social media giant of using its influence in the digital marketplace to cause harm. They also accused the company of participating in anti-competitive behavior.

Jesse Cohen, a senior analyst at investing.com said in a statement that the continuous growth of Facebook despite the unfavorable publicity and antitrust cases shows that the giant tech company can't be stopped.