Facebook "Permanently Discontinues Political Group Recommendation Feature"

Q4 Earnings Surprise... Impact of Increased Homebodies Due to COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Facebook, the world's largest social media platform, announced that it will discontinue the feature that recommends civic organizations or political groups to users through its algorithm.

On the 27th (local time), according to the U.S. economic media CNBC, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, stated during a conference call after the earnings announcement, "We will stop recommending civic and political groups to users through the algorithm," adding, "This is part of the work we have been doing to prevent divisive conversations."

This change appears to be aimed at preventing the Facebook platform from being used to incite violence following the January 6th U.S. Capitol riot.

Ahead of the U.S. presidential election, Facebook had operated under an emergency system during the election season, restricting functions such as live video creation, event, group, and page organization for users within the United States.

CEO Zuckerberg also said, "We are considering measures to reduce the amount of political content users see in their News Feed." He emphasized, "The most common feedback we currently receive is that users do not want politics."

Facebook announced surprise earnings that exceeded market expectations on the same day. This was due to increased online activity as people stayed home longer and went out less amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Facebook's revenue in the fourth quarter of last year surged 31% year-over-year to $28.07 billion, surpassing the market forecast of $26.44 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) were $3.88, exceeding the market expectation of $3.22.

Along with strong advertising revenue, which accounts for the largest share of sales, revenue from the virtual reality (VR) sector more than doubled compared to the same period last year. Other revenue in the fourth quarter of last year reached $885 million.