Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) was one of the most hated tech companies of 2020. It was pilloried by various groups for its failure to halt the spread of hate speech, violent content, and fake news, and some of those missteps actually sparked an advertising boycott.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg was questioned and criticized by Congress, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as 46 state attorneys general, recently sued Facebook for anticompetitive practices -- and could force it to divest its subsidiaries. Apple 's latest iOS update could also make it harder for Facebook and other advertisers to accumulate user data.
But amid all that chaos and a pandemic-induced slowdown in ad sales, Facebook marched on. Its revenue rose 17% year over year in the first nine months of 2020, its net income surged 61%, and its stock price has risen 33% over the past year.
For further details see:
3 Catalysts for Facebook in 2021