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Opinion
Shira Ovide

Facebook Is Done Apologizing

Executives adopt an air of optimism not seen since the glory days before social harm and privacy abuses. 

Turn that frown upside down.

Turn that frown upside down.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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For a moment during Facebook Inc.’s earnings call on Wednesday, I closed my eyes and swore it was the glory days of 2015. 

The company has spent the past six months delivering scary news to its investors. Revenue growth would slow sharply. Rising spending would pinch profit margins. The main social network was reaching saturation in the developed world and the company hadn’t figured out how to make money from newer forms of internet behavior. It was a litany of downbeat messages that collectively shaved $250 billion off Facebook’s market value from late July to the end of 2018.