Many South Koreans are leaving Facebook and Instagram, the social network services operated by Meta.
It is analyzed that many people are tired of the online space, which is inundated with fake news and false advertisements.
IGAWorks, a big data analytics firm, revealed that Facebook's monthly active users (MAUs) in Korea were 8.94 million in November. MAU refers to the number of users who used the service at least once a month.
Previously, Facebook's MAUs ranked first among Korean social media. However, it fell below 10 million for the first time in February, recording about 9.8 million. The number of users marked below 9 million within nine months and 1.4 million had left within a year.
Instagram experiences the same challenge. Its domestic MAU, about 19.25 million in August, has shrunk for three consecutive months to 19.01 million in September, 18.85 million in October, and 18.65 million in November. Instagram, a photo and video-centered social network service, attracted users after introducing short videos called "reels" in 2021, but currently it is said to have begun a reverse growth.
Some analysts believe that low-quality content has made users fed up with social media, which has become a hotbed for celebrity impersonation fake ads, fake news, and hateful content. Facebook and Instagram are allowing anyone to pay to post content, which is only encouraging such content instead of filtering it out.
According to a survey by the Korea Press Foundation, 80.3% of elementary, middle, and high school students had used Facebook in 2019, but that number dropped to 46.1% last year. It is expected that the number of users will decline even more rapidly as younger people turn away from these social network services.
This article was originally published on Dec. 11, 2023.