India among top three sources for active users growth on Facebook: Meta

India is among the top three nations contributing active users growth for Facebook as of December 31, 2022, social media major Meta said in a regulatory filing.

The company has reported a 4 per cent increase in worldwide daily active users (DAUs) to 2 billion on average during December 2022 from 1.93 billion during December 2021.

“Users in India, the Philippines and Bangladesh represented the top three sources of growth in DAUs during December 2022, relative to the same period in 2021,” Meta said.

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The company defines a daily active user as a registered and logged-in Facebook user who visited Facebook through its website or a mobile device, or used the Messenger application (and is also a registered Facebook user), on a given day.

The monthly active users (MAUs) as of December 31, 2022, increased by 2 per cent to 2.96 billion from December 31, 2021. India stood among the top three contributors in terms of monthly active users too.

“Users in India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh represented the top three sources of growth in 2022, relative to the same period in 2021,” Meta said.

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The company reiterated the risk to its operation in India due to the proposed data protection legal framework in India.

“In addition, some countries, such as India and Turkey, are considering or have passed legislation implementing data protection requirements or requiring local storage and processing of data or similar requirements that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services, cause us to cease the offering of our products and services in certain countries, or result in fines or other penalties,” the filing dated February 1 said.

Meta has also cautioned investors that it could also face fines, orders restricting or blocking services in particular geographies, or other government-imposed remedies as a result of content hosted on its services citing examples of India and Germany.

“For example, legislation in Germany and India has resulted in the past, and may result in the future, in the imposition of fines or other penalties for failure to comply with certain content removal, law enforcement cooperation, and disclosure obligations,” the filing said.

(With agency inputs)