Meta and Snap both show positive revenue results, but legal challenges and a tumultuous tech landscape prove difficult to overcome.
Meta and Snap both see revenues increase in their Q3 earnings, despite facing lawsuits and agreeing to multiple settlements over their respective platforms allegedly causing harm to youngsters.
For Meta, the penultimate 2026 quarter saw its revenue reach $64.60m – that’s a 26% increase year-on-year (YoY).
Ad impressions across the Facebook and Instagram-owner’s ecosystem also increased 10% YoY, with the average price per ad rising by 14%.
Daily active users on Meta saw a small increase of 3% YoY for the month of September.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and chief executive said: “We hit major milestones this quarter toward delivering personal super intelligence for everyone – including launching Muse and Muse Wonder, our first frontier model.
“Our investments are paying off, the core business is strong, and we’re seeing velocity across the board.”
Meta noted the $16bn settlement in the social media addiction lawsuit and associated costs, totalling around $18.59bn and highlighted in its Q3 report the cost and expenses include a $9.89bn charge related to this agreement.
Excluding these costs, income from operations ($12.99bn) would have risen by $9.89bn to $22.88bn.
Susan Li, chief technology officer, at Meta, said: “Our AI investments are already delivering substantial incremental advertising revenue through stronger engagement, better recommendations, and more efficient monetisation.
“Building on this progress, our MSL investments are creating the technology and infrastructure needed to unlock significant new revenue opportunities and strengthen capabilities across the business. While these investments will take longer to generate returns than those in our core business, the breadth of monetisation opportunities and internal efficiencies gives us confidence in their long-term potential.”
It’s been a strong quarter for Meta under normal circumstances, but it’s also evident the social media settlement has had a significant impact, as intended.
Unfortunately for Meta, it seems unlikely this case will be the last to make an impact. In fact, Meta could see fines hit $1.4trn in mental health lawsuits as the harmful practices are revealed – although this is unlikely.
Ad impressions have seen a healthy lift, alongside side its investments in AI, unlike Google, whose shares took a hit after it revealed it would be investing in AI more – which Meta could take advantage of.
Strong revenue for Snap
Meanwhile, Snap generated over $1.72bn in revenue in Q3 of 2026, growing by 14% YoY.
This is fairly stagnant for such a large platform, but Snap’s focus is said to be on strengthening its ad platform and improving monetisation – something which has excelled this Q3 period.
Net income for the company was $46m, a significant jump from a net loss of $104m last year, with daily active users growing 4% in the period to 495 million
Evan Spiegel, co-founder and chief executive said: “AI is becoming a significant advantage for our teams and advertising platform, and we continue to strengthen our business while investing in our long-term vision for augmented reality with the launch of SPECS.”
Paid subscribers to the platform reached over 30 million for Snapchat+, Memory Storage, and Lens+, illustrating the value of what Snap’s premium features could deliver, and the direction in which the social media firm is likely to continue.
The average revenue per user rose to $3.48 in Q3 2026 – up from $3.16 the previous year. This highlights the growing capability to monetise its audiences against a difficult backdrop for social media platforms and competitive tech landscapes.
Snap also faces a number of lawsuits relating to mental health damages in teenagers and children. The company settled the latest two cases after it was accused of contributing to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
Snap has also denied its platform was designed to be addictive to young users, and said it has taken action to make the app a safe place for young people to express themselves.
As the addiction trials continue, Snap faces not just the loss of revenue in the form of fines and settlements, but a damage to reputation among parents and adults who will no doubt become more aware of potential harms.
