Facebook shrugs

Facebook’s troubles with Russian election meddlers, fake news and user privacy have dominated headlines. But they don’t seem to be affecting the company’s bottom line so far.

(:)68-7)67 %6) 78-00 '31-2+ 83 %')&33/ The company’s revenue, which largely derives from ads, soared 49 percent to $12 billion in the first three months of the year. Profit jumped 63 percent to $5 billion. Its user base also continued to grow, as it has steadily since its founding 14 years ago.

The latest criticisms of Facebook have been over how it collects and shares data on users. News broke in mid-March that the Trump-linked data-mining firm Cambridge 2%0=8-'% ,%( -2%446346-%8)0= gotten information on up to 87 million users.

There were roughly two weeks left in Facebook’s first quarter when the scandal broke, so the company’s most recent quarterly report does not fully reflect users’ and advertisers’ reactions. The quarter ended by the time CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress for two days of grilling by lawmakers over user data protection.

Still, analysts don’t expect any surprises. Canaccord Genuity’s Michael Graham echoed others on Wall Street when he called Zuckerberg’s congressional appearances “compelling.”

“We think that for the time being, the worst is very likely behind FB stock,” he wrote in a note to investors.