Zuck's hiding a secret reliance that'll 心烦 the White House

Newsletter #263, and Meta reported record earnings but hidden deep in the numbers is a warning of big trouble ahead...

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced record ad earnings before dropping a ballsy claim his AI will overtake ChatGPT and allcomers to become the market leader.

That’s what grabbed the headlines, and with investors trillions of dollars deep and desperate to know if he can repeat last year’s stock growth, it was his hero message.

He jumped on a call to reveal fourth quarter earnings.

“This is the year when a highly intelligent and personalised AI assistant reaches more than one billion people,” he told them. “I expect Meta AI to be that assistant.”

Epic signalling. I’m up for the fight. I’m in with the new Prez. Stock’s at record highs. I’m the fourth richest man, and my shaggy hairdo makes me a total babe magnet.

Trust me. I got this.

Hmmm, have you really though fella?

Here are four things he didn’t talk about, and that his minions assiduously swerved, (which means they are mega-awks)...

1. Kids are suffering on his platforms every minute of every day. Humanity knows it should do something about that.

2. The US plans to break Meta up. It heads to court in 73 days to get started. It’s the greatest threat to its rocket-like trajectory in 21 years. And I’ll be there.

3. Meta isn’t a social network and hasn’t been since its geek-in-chief took the leap to exit his dorm. Nup, it’s an ad business, and it’s way, way, way over-exposed.

4. Worst of all, his growth is coming from China. Zuck’s folk fudged it during the call, but the big story’s hidden in its SEC filings. I’ve read them and the new Prez won’t be a fan.

So let me break down Meta’s Q4 results...