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Meta Apps Lose 20 Million Daily Active Users in March; Company Reportedly Tweaks Instagram Recommendation Algorithm

Meta Apps Lose 20 Million Daily Active Users in March; Company Reportedly Tweaks Instagram Recommendation Algorithm

Meta’s family of apps gained 3.56 billion daily active users in March, compared to the same month last year.

Written by Dhruv Raghav, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 1 May 2026 10:24 IST

Meta Apps Lose 20 Million Daily Active Users in March; Company Reportedly Tweaks Instagram Recommendation Algorithm

Photo Credit: Reuters

Meta plans to increase its spending on AI

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Highlights

Meta says that the ad impressions on its platforms increased
Meta’s quarterly revenue grew 33 percent from the same quarter last year
Russia attempted to block Meta apps in February

Meta announced its first-quarter financial results earlier this week. While revealing the financial numbers for the last quarter, the Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant highlighted that its family of social media platforms, which includes Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp, witnessed a “slightly declice” in the number of daily active users from the last quarter, while registering an increase compared to the same period last year. Reports suggest this could be due to the deteriorating quality of feeds on its social media platforms. Meanwhile, the tech giant is reportedly also revamping Instagram's recommendation algorithm, which could be an effort to improve the quality of feed.

Meta Reportedly Losing Daily Active Users Because of “Low Quality” Feeds

In a press release on April 29, the US-based tech giant revealed that Meta's “Family daily active people (DAP)”, which accounts for the combined daily active users on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp, was at 3.56 billion on average in the quarter ending March 2026. The company said this was an increase of about 4 percent from the same period last year. However, compared to the last quarter, the company recorded a “slight decline” in DAP.

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The tech giant attributed the decline in its DAP to internet disruptions in Iran and restrictions on access to WhatsApp in Russia. While the company did not reveal the exact number of users it lost in the first quarter, The Verge reports that Meta's social media platforms collectively lost about 20 million users. This comes as the company reportedly plans to increase its spending on AI by $10 billion (roughly Rs. 94,947 crore) this year than previously anticipated.

Tech Layoffs: March Worst Month in Two Years as Companies Cut 38,000 Jobs

According to a 9to5Mac report, this could be because of the deteriorating quality of feeds on its platforms. It appears that Meta has already begun working on a solution to the “low-quality” feeds on its social media platforms. A report from Engadget claims that Meta is tweaking Instagram's recommendation algorithm.

The company has reportedly updated its feed recommendation algorithm to state that Instagram will now discourage unoriginal content that is “largely repurposed from another source” and adds no material value, while decreasing the reach of such content and ranking it lower. Similarly, content from websites that receive a “disproportionate number of clicks” from Instagram compared with other parts of the web, and news that does not include “transparent information about authorship,” will now be shown to fewer users.

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Further reading: Meta, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger

Dhruv Raghav

Email Dhruv Raghav

Dhruv Raghav is currently working as a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets360. He has previously covered the North American financial markets as a Headline News Correspondent for a major news agency. After taking a sabbatical to prepare for the Civil Services examination, he returned to journalism to cover tech policy, with a special focus on AI laws and online gaming regulation. Now, he is back in Gadgets360 to write features and edit stories. To unwind, he likes to spend time with his PS5, listening ...More