However, due to increased advertising spending, the social media giant’s second-quarter performance did exceed Wall Street’s expectations.

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday that it expects a “significant slowdown” in revenue growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2021, which has caused the social media giant’s share price to fall by about 5% in after-hours trading.

The company’s quarterly revenue exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, thanks to increased advertising spending as companies build digital businesses to cater to consumers who spend more time and money online.

According to Refinitiv’s IBES data, the company’s total revenue (mainly including advertising sales) in the second quarter increased from 18.69 billion US dollars in the same period last year to 29.08 billion US dollars, exceeding analyst expectations of 27.89 billion US dollars.

Like its peers, as the coronavirus pandemic prompts consumers to shop primarily online, forcing many companies to use social media platforms to create online stores and markets, Facebook’s demand for its digital advertising is also increasing.

Facebook said that as of the second quarter on June 30, the advertising revenue of the world’s largest social network increased by 56% to 28.58 billion U.S. dollars.

The company said it expects Apple’s recent privacy changes to require iPhone application developers to start asking users for permission to collect certain advertising data, which will have an impact in the third quarter. Facebook argues that Apple’s recent request for iPhone app developers to start requesting this permission will harm its business and harm small companies that rely on personalized advertising.

Refinitiv’s IBES data shows that monthly active users were 2.90 billion, an increase of 7% over the same period last year, but lower than analysts’ expectations of 2.92 billion, the slowest growth rate in at least three years.

Net income increased from $5.18 billion or $1.80 per share a year ago to $10.4 billion or $3.61 per share. Analysts had previously expected earnings per share of $3.03.