Facebook

social network · live · since Feb 2004

People keep a profile, add friends, follow Pages and groups, and share posts, photos, videos and Reels in a ranked feed, with Messenger for chat and Marketplace for buying and selling.

how dependent?

  1. 07OperatorIEMeta Platforms Ireland Limited
  2. OwnerUSMeta Platforms, Inc.
  3. ProtocolUSMeta Platforms, Inc.
  4. Shared services–None
  5. CodeUSMeta Platforms, Inc.
  6. VerificationGBYotiUSMeta Platforms, Inc.
  7. 06ModelsUSMeta Platforms, Inc.
  8. 05DataUSMeta Platforms Ireland LimitedEUMeta's data centres in Clonee, Odense and Luleå
  9. 04ServersUSMeta
  10. EdgeUSMetaITFastweb SpA
  11. 03–01Belowcompute, networks and resources are not recorded per app

Every layer above links to what it rests on. The figure counts the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the UK as European, as the landscape does.

How it is run

nine questions
ArchitectureWho holds your account and posts?

One company

open protocol: no

move your account and keep your followers: no

hub: Meta

Posts live only on Meta's service, under Meta's own proprietary system; outside apps reach them only through Meta's Graph API. No way to move an account with its friends and followers to another provider was found in Meta's developer documentation or terms; data downloads do not count here.

Business modelWho pays, and for what?

Targeted ads · subscriptions

Advertising was $196.2bn of Meta's $201.0bn revenue in 2025 (97.6%, computed from the 10-K); in the EU, EEA and Switzerland users choose between free use with ads (personalised, or less personalised since November 2024) and a subscription for no ads at €5.99 a month on the web or €7.99 in the apps. Meta Verified is a separate paid tier, counted with WhatsApp paid messaging and payment fees in 'other revenue' ($2.6bn, 1.3%). In April 2025 the Commission found the binary pay-or-consent model offered until November 2024 breached the DMA and fined Meta €200m; Meta has appealed.

OrganisationWhat kind of organisation runs it?

Listed company

control: Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq); Mark Zuckerberg holds 60.8% of the votes

Class B shares carry ten votes each, and Zuckerberg holds 99.8% of them, giving him 60.8% of the total voting power as of 1 April 2026. Meta is a 'controlled company' under Nasdaq rules, and the 10-K says he controls the outcome of any shareholder vote, including on a merger or sale of the company.

FeedWho decides what you see?

Ranked, with a non-profiled option

Meta's AI system selects and orders the posts in Feed by predicted relevance. Users can switch the home screen to 'Following' or 'Favorites' to see followed accounts newest first, with no recommended content. Since August 2023 EU users can also view Stories and Reels only from people they follow, in chronological order, and search without personalisation.

ModerationWho moderates?

The operator

Meta's own technology and review teams enforce the Community Standards across Facebook, including inside groups, and remove groups whose admins or moderators approve violating posts. Group admins moderate their own groups, but groups are one part of what users see; posts from friends and Pages and recommended content are moderated by Meta alone. Coding this operator is an inference, as Meta publishes no share of content seen in groups.

AI trainingDoes your content train AI?

Trains its own AI, with an opt-out

a setting or form to opt out: yes

Since 27 May 2025 Meta trains its generative AI models on public posts and comments by adults in the EU and on their interactions with Meta AI, on the basis of legitimate interests, with an objection form reviewed by the Irish DPC. Private messages and under-18s' accounts are excluded, per Meta. No licensing of users' content to third parties for AI training was found.

IdentityMust you prove who you are?

No ID needed

verification: Yoti

Read off the verification layer, where its sources are.

Open sourceIs the code open?

Closed source

licence: proprietary

Read off the code layer, where its sources are.

SizeHow big is it?

263.5M a month in the EU

counted: average monthly active recipients in the EU, as the DSA requires them

period: Jan–Jun 2026

Meta Platforms Ireland's Art. 24(2) figure for 1 January to 30 June 2026, published in the Facebook DSA transparency report of 28 August 2026. Meta estimates it from monthly active users and says it does not count unique people, since some people hold several accounts.

What each layer rests on

checked 25 Sep 2026
07OperatorWho serves the app?

Meta Platforms Ireland Limited · Ireland

Dublin, CRO 462932, formerly Facebook Ireland Limited. It provides Facebook in the EU, is the other party to the user contract and the data controller, and books about 60% of Meta's global revenue, per press. Designated a very large online platform on 25 April 2023; 263.5 million average monthly active recipients in the EU, January to June 2026.

07OwnerWho owns the operator, where someone else does?

Meta Platforms, Inc. · United States

Held through Facebook International Operations Ltd (IE), per press. For EU data, Meta's Irish company is the controller and Meta Platforms, Inc. the processor; the European Data Protection Board found in 2023 that the US company would still have to disclose EU users' data if the US government asked.

07ProtocolWho writes the rules of the network?

Meta Platforms, Inc. · United States

protocol: proprietary

No federation; third-party apps use Meta's Graph API.

07Shared servicesWhat does it lean on but not run?

None

07CodeWho builds the software?

Meta Platforms, Inc. · United States

licence: proprietary

The Irish company had 300 engineering staff in 2024, per press; no EU role in building the app is stated.

07VerificationWho checks users' identity, age or account?

Yoti · United Kingdom

also Meta Platforms, Inc. · United States: AI age detection that flags suspected under-age accounts

checks: age

ID needed to post: no

A self-declared birth date at sign-up; the Commission found in April 2026 no effective check on it. An ID or Yoti's facial age estimation is required to move a birthday from under to over 18. Identity verification is optional and paid.

06ModelsWhose models moderate, rank or check?

Meta Platforms, Inc. · United States

Ranking, recommendations and most moderation are Meta's own models, and Meta AI has been in the EU since March 2025. Since 27 May 2025 EU adults' public posts and their chats with Meta AI train Meta's models, on the basis of legitimate interests, with an objection form.

05DataWhere does the data sit?

Meta Platforms Ireland Limited · United States

also Meta's data centres in Clonee, Odense and Luleå · European Union: storage in Ireland, Denmark and Sweden, as part of one global pool with no EU boundary

where: Global, with the US named first. Meta stores EU users' data wherever it has infrastructure, and in 2021 argued its data could not be separated into regional silos.

transfers: To Meta Platforms, Inc. in the US as processor, under the Data Privacy Framework since July 2023, and otherwise standard contractual clauses. The Irish DPC's 2023 order to stop storing EU users' data in the US remains stayed on appeal.

04ServersWho runs the servers?

Meta · United States

region: Meta's own data centres worldwide, three in the EU (Clonee IE, Odense DK, Luleå SE), plus leased space and unnamed third-party cloud

Meta owns 30 data-centre locations worldwide. Luleå, live since 2013, carries traffic from around the world.

04EdgeWho stands in front of them?

Meta · United States

also Fastweb SpA · Italy: houses Meta's cache servers inside its network; Meta runs them and the content

Measured from Italy, Facebook's media came from a Meta cache inside Fastweb's network. The edge can sit physically inside a European ISP while Meta controls it.

  • measured · static.xx.fbcdn.net · AS32934 Meta · 25 Sep 2026
  • measured · scontent.fflr2-1.fna.fbcdn.net · AS30722 Fastweb (Vodafone Italia) · 25 Sep 2026 · user media, from a Meta cache inside the ISP

where a claim in circulation is wrong

  • After the Irish DPC's €1.2 billion decision of 2023, Meta stopped storing EU users' Facebook data in the US.

    The order to stop storing EU users' data in the US is stayed on appeal, and Meta says its compliance steps await the DPC's confirmation. The privacy policy still names the US among the places EU data is stored, and transfers now rest on the Data Privacy Framework.

    Meta Platforms, Inc., quarterly report 10-Q (Q2 2026)Meta privacy policy

Checked 25 Sep 2026.