Facebook gained a bunch of users during COVID-19, but now people are leaving

While many people were stuck at home or out of work as COVID-19 started spreading across the world, Facebook saw a large increase in users starting in March. Last quarter, Facebook had around 198 million active users in the US and Canada. Now, that number has dropped to around 196 million active users.

This was brought to light during Facebook’s third-quarter earnings report. In this report, the company notes that this loss of users was expected, as more people return to work and “normal life.”

“As expected, in the third quarter of 2020, we saw Facebook DAUs and MAUs in the US & Canada decline slightly from the second quarter 2020 levels which were elevated due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fourth quarter of 2020, we expect this trend to continue and that the number of DAUs and MAUs in the US & Canada will be flat or slightly down compared to the third quarter of 2020,” Facebook notes.

The social giant is an interesting spot right now. While they continue to rake in advertising money – $18 billion in Q3 (even with an ad boycott) – it seems public sentiment towards the company continues to dwindle, especially during this tumultuous election, and Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation. That said, people are obviously still spending quite a bit of time on the platform.

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What do you think? Surprised that people are leaving Facebook or was it to be expected? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.