Earlier this week following reports from The New York Times that social media platform Facebook had allowed a Trump analytics team to somehow infiltrate 50 million users data, the company’s stock began slipping into a freefall, bringing other social media stock from Twitter and Snapchat down with it. While Snap and Twitter were able to consequently assure stakeholders and distance themselves to regain footing in Wall Street, Facebook continues to be in hot-water.
Early reports estimate that the company lost nearly $60 billion in value due to the 6.7 percent decrease in share prices on Monday followed by a slightly further decrease on Tuesday, and although as of Wednesday the company’s share prices had bounced ever so slightly back up by .74 percent, the future remains gray at best given ongoing speculation that these sorts of revelations in data hacking may be the first of their kind.
Both Republican and Democrat lawmakers have expressed outrage and concern over the situation due to the increasing amount user-specific data digitally stored by companies like Facebook, and have demanded answers from Facebook’s creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The revelations accuse Zuckerberg of being made aware of the breach in user data when it happened over two years ago during the 2016 presidential election season, and not disclosing the breach to government officials or the public.
Asset strategist Boris Schlossberg was quoted on CNBC’s “Trading Nation” warning ambitious investors to wait on buying back into Facebook’s stock given its low price, “The stock right now is no doubt radioactive, and I think it probably faces a tremendous amount of headwinds as we go forward.”
So far no concrete action has been taken against Facebook, but congressional hearings are likely to occur within the coming weeks as public and official concern mounts.
