Yahoo Finance Poll Names Facebook/Meta "Worst Company of the Year"

Every year, Yahoo Finance publishes the type of year-in-review most media companies participate in. For Yahoo Finance, that's a list of best and worst companies — the publisher takes into account factors such as market performance for the list. But it also conducts a poll to find out which companies consumers think are the worst.

It may come as no surprise to many that Facebook, aka Meta, topped that list for 2021. The poll asks users to say which company they think is the worst and allows them to provide some reasons for that vote. More than 1,500 users voted, and Facebook "won" by a large margin.

The runner-up in the poll was Alibaba, which is a Chinese ecommerce company that competes with brands such as Wish. Facebook garnered 50% more votes than Alibaba.

Why are people voting Facebook as the worst company of 2021? Respondents complained about issues with censorship, misinformation, and privacy on the platform. They also had issues with the mental health impact of Instagram and other platforms on people, including children.

Anyone following the news on Facebook in 2021 shouldn't be surprised at this outcome. The company has weathered and continues to stand in the storm of numerous scandals. It was no stranger to issues before 2021, but this year included some big ones.

• In April, the information for 533 million Facebook users was found on a hacker website.
• In August, Facebook got flak for suspending the accounts for a number of journalists, researchers, and research organizations.
• In September, leaked documents revealed Facebook treated celebrities differently, knew Instagram contributed to teen mental health issues, and faced a huge lawsuit from shareholders.
• In October, Facebook faced a huge fine for noncompliance in an investigation surrounding its ownership of Giphy.
• And, of course, throughout the year, there have been issues associated with information released by whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Are Facebook's days numbered? It's doubtful, seeing as Meta covers a lot of technical territory. Around 30% of respondents in the Yahoo Finance poll believe the company can redeem itself, but it may be that Meta maintains its power despite being cast as a villain in some people's eyes.