Facebook’s Russia Ban Will Cost It About $ 3.6 Million A Day
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Russia has turned off access to Facebook, accusing the world’s largest social network of unfairly censoring media outlets within the country — and instantaneously zapping away millions of dollars in revenue from Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
What is the exact figure? According to Statista (a data-tracking company), Facebook boasts about 66 million Russian users. The app earned $ 19.68 per user in Europe last year, according to the company’s latest annual report. Meaning, it’ll lose about $ 3.6 million per day — or $ 1.3 billion for the year — from the block in Russia. For perspective, that represents a little more than 1% of Meta’s total revenue: It brought in $ 117.9 billion in 2021.
Facebook and other social media networks have been in a standoff with Russia as the platforms have sought to crack down on misinformation amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia was already restricting access to Facebook, having placed fact-check labels for some posts of state-affiliated media organizations and later banned those outlets.
On Sunday, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said Facebook had thwarted a Russia-led disinformation campaign against Ukraine and a separate attempt by hackers to target the Facebook accounts of high-profile Ukranians.
Clegg posted this tweet after Russia had announced its ban for Friday.
