Meta Confronts Apple-Sized Hole in Its Once-Mighty Ad Business

There are many reasons for the dire situation at Meta Platforms Inc. The company, which has lost two-thirds of its market value this year and cut 11,000 jobs on Nov. 9, has been battered by damaging news about the political and social impact of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Investors are skeptical of Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to pivot from social networking to the metaverse and worried about rising rivals such as ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok. And that’s to say nothing of the stresses on the broader economy and the digital advertising market.

But one factor looms above ...