Application security

Facebook stock plummets due to increased cybersecurity spending

Facebook's stock took a major hit today after CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed its future profits will be severely impacted by the company hiring thousands of new security employees.

The social media giant's stock plummeted up to 20 percent in early trading Thursday despite the fact its quarterly report, which was issued after closing on July 25, beat Wall Street expectations, MarketWatch reported. Zuckerberg said during an earnings call that he had previously announced Facebook would face lower profits due to its hiring of about 20,000 people to handle security in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and that Russia used Facebook to push fake news in an attempt to affect the 2016 election cycle.

The implementation of GDPR in the EU also caused a headache for Facebook with Zuckerberg blaming the new privacy regulation for a fall off of 3 million daily users, MarketWatch said. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stated GDPR has not affected the company's top line.

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