Meta's share price fell almost 8% after the company reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings, despite a media blitz by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in the days beforehand promoting the benefits of artificial intelligence. The disappointing results undercut Zuckerberg's efforts to reassure investors and the public that Meta's enormous AI spending is justified, at a time when the firm's share price is already down 10% over the past year amid growing scepticism about the returns on that investment.

Meta posted earnings of $6.18 per share, well below the $7.14 Wall Street had expected, though revenue of $60.8bn beat forecasts of $60.23bn. The firm raised its expected costs for the year, partly due to $2.4bn in legal-related charges, pushing total expenses to a range of $165bn–$169bn, and lifted its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $130bn–$145bn, much of it earmarked for AI infrastructure. Zuckerberg had used a Wall Street Journal op-ed and interviews with the New York Times and Financial Times to champion a vision of "personalised super-intelligence" for everyone, while analysts, including Forrester's Mike Proulx, questioned whether Meta was "trying to do too much at once" across its various AI ventures.