How Much Does Facebook Really Make From You? ($160/yr, unpacked)
Meta's headline number is $268 per US user per year. But that's the family ARPU — covering Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger combined. Here's how to split it.
Every so often someone on Reddit posts a screenshot saying "Meta makes $268 a year off of you." That number comes from a specific line in a specific SEC filing, and it's more nuanced than the screenshot suggests. Here's what's actually going on.
The $268 number
Meta's FY2024 10-K reports Average Revenue Per Person (ARPP)of $268 for the US & Canada region. Worldwide the number is much lower — roughly $47 for Europe, $19 for Asia-Pacific, and $14 for "rest of world." Meta calls it ARPP, not ARPU, because a single person often has accounts across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, and the company doesn't want to double-count.
So that $268 is the family number. It covers everything Meta monetizes about a single North American adult — newsfeed ads on Facebook, Reels ads on Instagram, Messenger sponsored messages, Marketplace, the whole thing.
How it splits across Facebook and Instagram
Meta doesn't publish per-app ARPU. But based on reported ad impressions and industry estimates, Facebook generates roughly 60% of Meta's ad revenue, Instagram 35-40%, with WhatsApp and Messenger making up the remainder. That puts the per-app numbers at roughly:
- Facebook: ~$160/yr per US user
- Instagram: ~$107/yr per US user
- WhatsApp + Messenger: ~$1
The split matters because most people don't use all four. If you only use Instagram, your Meta value is closer to $107, not $268.
But your data isn't worth $268
Here's the part that gets skipped in the screenshots. ARPP is what Meta makes in total— including the value of their ad auction infrastructure, their targeting algorithms, their sales teams, and the attention they've already aggregated. Your raw personal data is only part of the equation.
The FTC's 2014 report on data brokers, combined with more recent academic work on "personal data pricing," puts the raw-data share of platform ad revenue at roughly 15-25%. We use 20% as a working number. That makes your Facebook data worth about $32/year and your Instagram data about $21/year before demographic adjustments.
Why iOS users are worth more
Even on Facebook, not all users are priced equally. iOS users command 2-3x the CPMs of Android users, according to Tenjin and Liftoff's mobile ad benchmarks. The reason is a combination of purchasing power (iPhone users have higher median income) and supply constraint (Apple's App Tracking Transparency limits the inventory advertisers can target, which pushes CPMs up for the remaining supply).
If you're curious about that specific dynamic, we have a separate post on why iOS users are worth 2-3x more than Android.
The takeaway
Meta makes $268 per year from a typical North American adult across its whole family of apps. Your Facebook data alone is probably worth around $32 to them (or more if you're in a high-value demographic, less if you're not). The number isn't the point — the point is it's knowable. Meta publishes it. You should know what it is.
See the per-platform breakdown on the Facebook data value page or the Instagram data value page. Full methodology and SEC filing citations are on the methodology page.