Paris France:

Facebook, the world’s largest social media application, launched 20 years ago, a key chapter in its history.

– Start of college –

In 2003, 19-year-old computer whiz Mark Zuckerberg began working in his Harvard dormitory on an online network designed to connect students at the prestigious American university.

On February 4, 2004, he founded thefacebook.com with three friends.

Membership is open to other universities across North America. Zuckerberg left Harvard University and moved to Silicon Valley, California.

The new company received its first major external investment of $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and officially changed its name to Facebook in 2005.

-Privacy issues first-

Microsoft bought a stake in the company for $240 million in 2007 after Facebook rejected takeover offers from US media groups Viacom and Yahoo. The company currently has 50 million users.

That year, Zuckerberg apologized for a feature called Beacon, which alerted the entire community when users were shopping online.

In 2008, Facebook overtook MySpace as the world’s most popular social networking site and launched its first mobile application the following year.

– Protest platform –

David Fincher’s story about the origins of Facebook, “The Social Network,” was released in 2010 and won Oscars for best adapted screenplay, original score and film editing.

Time magazine named Zuckerberg its 2010 Person of the Year for “changing the way we live every day.”

As its membership soars, Facebook plays an ever-increasing role in shaping public debate.

In 2011, it played a key role in giving voice to disillusioned Arab youth amid the Arab Spring rebellions.

– Enter the stock market –

In 2012, Facebook acquired photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion.

The technology industry’s largest-ever initial public offering raised $16 billion and valued Facebook at $104 billion.

Wearing a hoodie, Zuckerberg rang the Nasdaq bell remotely from Facebook’s California headquarters.

In October 2012, the number of Facebook members exceeded 1 billion.

– Social Media Group –

In 2014, Facebook acquired messaging platform WhatsApp for $19 billion to attract young smartphone users.

It moved into a new headquarters designed by Frank Gehry in Silicon Valley.

– Controversy –

In 2016, Facebook was embroiled in controversy over Russia’s alleged use of Facebook and other social media platforms to try to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election that ultimately brought Donald Trump to power.

In 2018, British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica secretly collected the personal data of millions of Facebook users and used it for political purposes, including to drum up support for Trump.

Zuckerberg, who has faced questioning in the U.S. Congress, has vowed to do more to combat fake news, foreign election interference and hate speech, and to increase data privacy.

– From Facebook to Meta –

In 2021, Facebook changed the company’s name to Meta (Greek, meaning “beyond”), but also means “metaverse”, the virtual world that Zuckerberg believes represents the future of the Internet.

On February 3, 2022, the company’s stock price plummeted, wiping out more than $200 billion in market value after warning of slowing revenue growth.

Its stock price rebounded sharply at the end of 2023, and the company’s market value exceeded US$1 trillion at the beginning of 2024.

Younger users are increasingly abandoning it in favor of TikTok or Snapchat, but with some 1.96 billion active users, it remains the world’s most used social network.

– Issues of concern to young people –

In October 2023, dozens of U.S. states accused Meta of harming the mental health of children and teenagers.

Meta later responded with plans to tighten content restrictions for teenagers on Instagram and Facebook.

In 2023, Facebook was also fined a record €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in Ireland for illegally transferring personal data between Europe and the United States in violation of EU regulations.

– Paid version –

In July 2023, Meta launched text-based app Threads, aiming to become a competitor to X (formerly Twitter) as the platform alienated many users and advertisers following its acquisition by Elon Musk .

In late October, it began offering a paid ad-free subscription in Europe for users who prefer not to have their personal data collected.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)