The Circuitry
THE CIRCUITRYYour one-stop source for all tech news
HOMETODAYNEWSFEEDEVENTS
BOOKMARKS
RSS
© 2026 The Circuitry
About UsSourcesContactCorrectionsPrivacy
  • Today
  • Feed
  • Events
  • Saved
Scroll for more
Verification
VERIFIEDConfidence: HIGH
Source identified
Claims cross-referenced
No discrepancies found
Sourcing
1source

via The Verge

The Verge · track record
71Stories
100%Verified
2630d
All sources →
Markets
META···

Live quote · not investment advice

Home/Tech/Meta's Daily Users Drop 20 Million Amid AI Spend Surge
VERIFIEDBy Xavier Rivera· ·1 min read

Meta's Daily Users Drop 20 Million Amid AI Spend Surge

Meta discloses a 20 million drop in daily active users across its platforms while boosting 2026 capex by $10 billion to $125-145 billion for AI. Revenue surges 33 percent despite Reality Labs losses and layoffs.

Source:The Verge
Post
Meta's Daily Users Drop 20 Million Amid AI Spend Surge
TL;DRAI · 60 sec read

Meta's Family daily active people drops 20 million due to internet disruptions in Iran and WhatsApp restrictions in Russia. It raises 2026 capex to $125-145 billion, up $10 billion, from underestimated AI compute demand and data center costs. Revenue grows 33% to $56.3 billion. Reality Labs loses $4.03 billion. Stock falls over 7%.

Meta reports a decline of 20 million in "Family daily active people" — its metric for collective daily users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger — this quarter compared to the previous three months. The company attributes the fall to "internet disruptions in Iran, as well as a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia," according to its earnings call on Wednesday.

Meta increases its projected capital expenditures for 2026 to a range of $125-145 billion, $10 billion more than previous estimates. The Verge cites higher component pricing and additional costs for future data center capacity as drivers. Meta CFO Susan Li states the company had "underestimated our compute demand in the past."
From The CircuitryThe Feed — live briefs across tech, all day.See what’s happening →
Revenue grows 33 percent to $56.3 billion this quarter from $42.3 billion a year ago, marking the fastest growth since 2021.

Meta's Reality Labs unit, which builds wearables and VR devices, posts an operating loss of $4.03 billion for the quarter. Employees in the unit face two waves of layoffs since January.
Meta's stock price falls more than 7 percent following the earnings release.
Why this mattersAI · ~100 words

Tap a lens to see what this story means for you.

Reader-supported
DonateBuy me a coffee →Follow@thecircuitry_ →Follow@thecircuitry.to →

Reader-supported · Daily Brief

Daily brief at 7 AM ET. Top tech stories, every morning. Sourced and fact-checked.

HELP US IMPROVE
From The Circuitry

See what’s happening right now

The Feed runs all day — short, verified briefs the moment they break.

Open the Feed →
From The Circuitry

Follow @thecircuitry_

Every story we publish, as it happens. No noise between.

Follow on X ↗On Bluesky ↗

Reader-supported

The Circuitry is a passion project I've always wanted to build, and I love the work behind it.

Running it costs real money. APIs, hosting, time. To keep improving the site and growing this into something useful for everyone, those costs have to be covered.

Any contribution is appreciated. If not, no pressure. Thanks for reading.

Buy me a coffee
MetaEarningsAI
More fromThe Verge
  • Trump administration asks OpenAI to stagger GPT-5.6 rollout

    Tech · 11h
  • Meta revives Creator Studio as AI companion app

    Tech · 23h
  • DeepMind partners with A24 on AI film tools after Google invests $75 million

    Tech · 3d
More inTech
  • ON Semiconductor Strikes $7 Billion All-Stock Deal for Synaptics

    Tech · 10h
  • Trump administration asks OpenAI to stagger GPT-5.6 rollout

    Tech · 11h
  • Zoox Launches Updated Purpose-Built Robotaxi

    Tech · 12h
SupportThe Work

The Circuitry is reader-supported. If you find the daily brief useful, you can buy me a coffee to keep it going.

Buy a coffee →
SubscribeCircuitry Brief

Daily brief at 7 AM ET. Top tech stories, every morning.

MORE IN TECH

ON Semiconductor Strikes $7 Billion All-Stock Deal for Synaptics

ON Semiconductor agreed to acquire Synaptics in a nearly $7 billion all-stock transaction that accelerates its physical AI expansion and lifts its total addressable market to $243 billion by 2030. The deal, the company's largest to date, is slated to close in mid-2027 amid a surge in AI-related buyouts industrywide.

Trump administration asks OpenAI to stagger GPT-5.6 rollout

The Trump administration has reportedly asked OpenAI to stagger the release of GPT-5.6 in limited preview form to select enterprise customers, with the government approving access on a case-by-case basis. The move is described as more favorable than the export-control directive imposed on Anthropic earlier this month and highlights uneven federal oversight of frontier AI models.

Zoox Launches Updated Purpose-Built Robotaxi

Zoox unveiled an updated version of its purpose-built robotaxi with lighter interior colors, refined seating, improved visibility features, and enhanced audio capabilities based on rider feedback from half a million rides. The changes aim to deliver greater comfort and simplicity while the Amazon-backed company advances its fully driverless ride-hailing service.