What's going on?

Facebook, Twitter, and Google-parent Alphabet all reported stronger-than-expected earnings late on Thursday, and everyone from Gen X to Gen Z played their meme-sharing part.

What does this mean?

Analysts predicted online advertising would return with a vengeance last quarter, and they weren�t wrong: Alphabet�s quarterly earnings beat forecasts, mostly thanks to the Google search and YouTube businesses that make up the vast majority of its revenue. Twitter�s advertisers, meanwhile, seemed willing to spend even more to reach you: the company blew past forecasts even though it reported fewer active users than predicted (tweet this).


Facebook had already warned that its active user numbers would stagnate as people increasingly ventured out of their homes. But the resurgence of the pandemic might�ve worked in its favor: the tech giant reported more monthly active users than expected, pushing its quarterly earnings past forecasts.

Why should I care?

For markets: What goes down…

As the fourth and fifth most valuable US stocks respectively, Alphabet and Facebook have had a massive influence over the country�s stock market this year. And while that influence has mostly been positive, they helped drag the entire market down on Tuesday and Wednesday � and lost a combined $90 billion of value in the process. But just when investors start to think these giants might be cut down to size, along comes an update that may put their minds at ease and push up their stocks � which is what happened on Thursday.

The bigger picture: Long arm of the law.

Thursday�s earnings aside, there are still challenges on Big Tech�s horizon: the US government has decided they�re way too powerful � and it�s even floating the possibility of breaking them up altogether. And on Wednesday, it hauled in the CEOs of Alphabet, Facebook, and Twitter to discuss a potential change to the laws currently protecting social media platforms from lawsuits. Keep in mind, then, that factors outside a company�s control can have major implications for its value.