Oxford study points to positive outcomes from Facebook use

Meta Platforms is a slightly controversial Vestact-recommended portfolio holding. The social media giant has 3.9 billion monthly users on either Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp or Threads.

Some investors feel that while the company is very profitable, it's morally questionable to own them, because being on those social media sites might make their users crazy. People also worry that Facebook, in particular, is responsible for political polarisation.

Recent research suggests that this is not the case, at all. The University of Oxford Internet Institute conducted a massive study of nearly a million people across 72 countries over 12 years, then cross checked that with data about their well-being.

Study lead, Professor Andrew Przybylski (pictured below), explains, "We examined the best available data carefully - and found they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is related to harm, quite the opposite. In fact, our analysis indicates Facebook is possibly related to positive well-being".