Meta has released its third-quarter 2026 results, highlighting revenue growth to $64.601 billion (around €64.6 billion), up 26% from the same period in the previous year. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is therefore maintaining its growth trajectory, after posting $56.311 billion in revenue in the first quarter and $60.801 billion in the second.
However, not every indicator is performing equally well. Although revenue continues to rise, operating profit fell 37%, impacted by the cost of a legal settlement in the United States. We will have to see how the latest $25 billion fine it is facing from the state of New Mexico sits with the company (the largest to date).
Let us take a look at the most relevant figures from these results.
Meta’s main economic engine continues to be its advertising business, which generated $63.061 billion during the quarter, approximately 98% of its total revenue. The company managed to increase the number of ad impressions shown to users by 10%, while the average price per ad rose 14% year over year. In other words, Meta is not only showing more ads, but also generating more revenue on average from each one.
Meanwhile, costs and expenses rose 68% to $51.613 billion. This increase was driven in particular by the agreement reached with 52 U.S. attorneys general to resolve litigation related to the effects of social media on teenagers’ mental health.
Meta recorded a one-time charge of $9.890 billion tied to this agreement. Without it, operating profit would have reached $22.880 billion, compared with the $12.988 billion ultimately reported.
Meta revenue in millions of dollars. Source: Meta
Let me make a brief aside here to recommend the film “The social reckoning”, which discusses the “Facebook Files” published by The Wall Street Journal in 2021, to better understand the scale of what this fine and legal process have meant for the tech giant. That information is still making headlines to this day, and I would even say now more than ever.
At the same time, the company is continuing its investment push in artificial intelligence and infrastructure, with $34.906 billion in capital expenditures during the quarter.
Beyond the financial results, Mark Zuckerberg devoted much of his remarks to investors to explaining the future of artificial intelligence at Meta.
The CEO highlighted the launch of Muse and Muse Wonder and shared the first adoption figures for its new personal agent: more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada have set up Muse in just a month and a half, and around 25% use it daily. But the most interesting point for eCommerce is that shopping has become its main use case.
According to Zuckerberg, more than a quarter of Muse users turn to it for shopping, with an average purchase amount above $200.
In fact, Meta is already preparing different ways to monetize the service. “For most people, the product should be free, and we will develop commerce tools to charge a commission on the transactions we help facilitate,” Zuckerberg said. In addition to this, there would be subscriptions for those who need more advanced models, as well as specific services for businesses.
Zuckerberg also previewed new developments regarding Muse’s integration into the company’s devices. The agent will arrive on Meta’s smart glasses starting in November, as part of a strategy that places personal artificial intelligence ahead of the company’s other technological bets.
And all of this is happening while Meta prepares new, more efficient models and seeks to expand Muse to billions of people. In Zuckerberg’s words, the goal of the next phase is clear: “Scale the product, increase revenue, and optimize computing costs.” The company is therefore aiming for its investment in artificial intelligence to stop being solely a tool for improving recommendations and advertising and to become, as well, a new business line.
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