SRC — Meta
Folder: 05 - SOURCE MATERIAL Supporting: Meta
Revenue and Scale
Meta Q4 2024 Earnings Report Advertising revenue: 164.5 billion 98% advertising dependency confirmed. https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2025/Meta-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2024-Results/
Facebook Monthly Active Users 3.3 billion globally as of 2024. Source: Meta Investor Relations
The Three Hooks
EFF — Meta Surveillance Overview https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/mad-meta-dont-let-them-collect-and-monetize-your-personal-data Confirms: Meta Pixel on 30% of world’s most popular websites. Confirms: Cannot escape Meta surveillance by deleting its apps.
Meta Privacy Policy Effective December 16, 2025 https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/ Confirms: Data shared across all Meta Company Products. Confirms: WhatsApp data shared with Meta when accounts linked.
Instagram DM Encryption Reversal
The Hacker News — March 14, 2026 https://thehackernews.com/2026/03/meta-to-shut-down-instagram-end-to-end.html Confirmed: E2EE ends May 8, 2026.
Fortune — March 17, 2026 https://fortune.com/2026/03/17/tiktok-meta-no-privacy-controls-why-explainer/ “On May 8, Instagram will be able to read your DMs again.” Confirms: reopens door to content scanning, AI moderation, law enforcement compliance.
Android Police — March 2026 https://www.androidpolice.com/why-meta-is-getting-rid-of-e2ee/ Platformer report cited: low adoption was Meta’s own creation — feature buried behind four taps, never advertised.
9to5Mac — March 17, 2026 Matthew Green (Johns Hopkins) quote: Meta previously committed to E2EE after 2022 human rights impact assessment. Commitment reversed. https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/17/security-bite-your-instagram-dms-were-likely-never-encrypted-to-begin-with/
Meta AI and Advertising
Proton — Meta AI Ads (January 2026) https://proton.me/blog/meta-ai-ads Confirmed: As of December 2025 Meta AI conversations used for ad personalisation across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. Exception: EU, UK, South Korea.
Meta Newsroom — October 2025 https://about.fb.com/news/2025/10/improving-your-recommendations-apps-ai-meta/ Official Meta statement on AI data use for personalisation.
Pay-For-Privacy Ruling
European Commission — April 2025 Formal ruling: Meta’s ad-free subscription model violates GDPR and Digital Markets Act. https://heydata.eu/en/magazine/metas-data-privacy-dilemma-unethical-ad-free-subscription-practices-and-celebrity-ai-chatbots/
Ray-Ban Smart Glasses / I-XRAY
I-XRAY Project — October 2024 AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio Harvard University Real-time facial identification of strangers demonstrated. Names, addresses, phone numbers retrieved from faces in seconds. Coverage: TechCrunch, The Guardian, Harvard Crimson — October 2024.
GDPR Fines
Incogni Social Media Privacy Ranking 2025 https://blog.incogni.com/social-media-privacy-2025/ Facebook most-fined platform: 4x under GDPR (EU) 1x in US 5x in other jurisdictions
Messenger Encryption
Meta Newsroom — December 2023 https://about.fb.com/news/2023/12/default-end-to-end-encryption-on-messenger/ Confirmed: Default E2E encryption for personal Messenger chats only. Not applicable: group chats, business chats, Marketplace chats.
Consumer Sentiment
Usercentrics — 2025 Survey 62% of consumers feel like “the product” on digital platforms. https://www.busyseed.com/meta-s-new-data-privacy-update-why-users-are-leaving-and-what-it-means-for-marketers
Still To Source
- Cambridge Analytica — original Kosinski et al. study Facebook likes personality prediction — full citation needed
- CAPI server-to-server tracking — independent technical verification
- Ray-Ban — Meta’s official response to I-XRAY #investigate
- WhatsApp metadata retention period — not publicly disclosed #investigate
- Instagram DM reversal — update after May 8, 2026 when change goes live #investigate