Ripping you off Stage 3
Messenger’s value is the Facebook contact graph: people you can reach nowhere else. Since December 2025, conversations with Meta AI inside Messenger feed ad targeting, with no setting to opt out. Meta also closed the desktop apps (2025). One extraction criterion plus network lock-in. Stage 3.
- Since
- 2011
- Category
- Messaging
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- Since 2012 (NASDAQ: META)
- Website
- messenger.com
Why it’s rated 3
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 1 of 4
-
- L1 Network or reputation
- Extraction 1 of 7
-
- E5 Data grab Oct 1, 2025
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result Two or more extraction criteria, or lock-in plus at least one, so stage 3.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
Oct 1, 2025
Meta will use conversations with Meta AI to target ads, with no opt-out
Data enclosureAd expansion