Meta Platforms Stock Falls Amid Antitrust Trial, Tariff And Inflation Concerns: What's Going On?

Shares of Meta Platforms Inc META are trading lower by 3.7% to $483.12 during Monday’s session and are lower by 13% over the trailing week. The stock has been volatile following remarks last week from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that highlighted risks of persistent inflation and slower economic growth stemming from newly imposed trade tariffs.

Additionally, the U.S. government has kicked off a major antitrust trial against the company, accusing it of maintaining a monopoly in social networking through years of anticompetitive practices. The Federal Trade Commission aims to force Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on day one, defending Meta’s acquisition strategy. The case carries wide implications for other tech giants like Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL and Amazon.com Inc AMZN. Meta argues that its size is essential to competing globally, especially against platforms like TikTok.

What Else: Meta, which generates the bulk of its revenue from digital advertising, is particularly sensitive to macroeconomic slowdowns. Powell's comments that first-quarter growth has softened and inflation remains above target spooked investors already wary of margin pressures and ad budget pullbacks.

Tariffs raise input costs across industries, including for hardware Meta relies on for its VR and AR platforms. If inflation accelerates due to supply chain distortions, consumer spending may also decline, pressuring advertisers to scale back spending on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Moreover, Powell’s signal that the Fed may delay rate cuts adds another headwind. Higher interest rates weigh on tech stock valuations and increase the cost of capital for Meta's long-horizon projects in the metaverse and AI infrastructure.

Growing business sentiment uncertainty could also further delay corporate digital ad spend recovery.

How To Buy META Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Meta Platforms – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

In the case of Meta Platforms, which is trading at $482.53 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you about 0.21 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, META has a 52-week high of $740.91 and a 52-week low of $414.50.

METAMeta Platforms Inc

$529.761.82%