Facebook turns 22: the university experiment that ended up organizing the world | TECHNOLOGY

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That advance also brought turbulence. In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed the misuse of millions of users’ data and led to a record fine from the Federal Trade Commission (Federal Trade Commission). Added to this were Apple’s privacy changes in 2021, which hit advertising revenue, and a sharp stock market drop in 2022, after the commitment to the metaverse and the name change to Meta.

The recovery came with internal adjustments and a strategic shift towards artificial intelligence. Since 2023, the company has reduced costs and strengthened its structure, while promoting open models like Llama, which positioned it as a central player in the AI ​​ecosystem. In parallel, in November 2025, a ruling by the judge James Boasberg rejected the idea that Meta has a monopoly on social networks, considering the competition from platforms such as TikTok y YouTube.

Today, despite the aging of its user base, Facebook remains the most used application in the world, with more than 3 billion of monthly users. 22 years after its founding, the social network that was born in a university dormitory has transformed into a technology company focused on AI, with Zuckerberg still at the helm and a “social graph” more influential—and complex—than ever.