Facebook stocks have plunged by as much as 24 per cent in after-hours trade due to concerns about the impact of privacy issues on the social media company's business.Executives warned that revenue growth would slow and expenses would rise.

由于人们十分关心隐私问题对社交媒体公司业务的影响，Facebook股票在盘后交易中暴跌24%。高管对此发出警告，声称收入增长将放缓，支出将会增加。

The plummeting stock price wiped out about $US150 billion in the company's market value in less than two hours.

在不到两个小时内，Facebook股价暴跌约1500亿美元。

The company had cautioned investors to expect a big jump in costs because of efforts to address concerns about poor handling of users' privacy and to better monitor what users post.Total expenses in the second quarter surged to $US7.4 billion, up 50 per cent compared with a year ago.

该公司提醒投资者，由于需要解决用户隐私处理不当的问题以及更好地监控用户发布内容，成本会大幅上涨。第二季度支出总额猛增至74亿美元，较一年前提高了50%。

"Our total revenue growth rates will continue to decelerate in the second half of 2018," said Facebook's chief financial officer David Wehner."Expenses are expected to grow 50 per cent to 60 per cent compared with last year as the company invests in security, marketing and content acquisition, he said."Over the next several years, we would anticipate that our operating margins will trend towards the mid-30s on a percentage basis," Mr Wehner said, adding that margins would be down for more than two years.

Facebook的首席财务长戴维·韦纳表示：“2018年下半年，我们的总收入增长率将继续放缓。随着公司对安全、营销和内容收购的投资，预计支出将比去年增加50%至60%。在未来几年，我们的运营利润率会接近30年代中期的百分比。”他还补充道，利润率会连续两年下降。

Facebook's operating margin fell to 44 per cent in the second quarter from 47 per cent a year ago.

Facebook第二季度的经营利润率从去年同期的47%下降到44%。

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union forced several changes to Facebook's privacy terms and sign-up process.

欧盟新发布的《通用数据保护条例》迫使Facebook的隐私条款和注册程序发生若干变化。

Facebook saw monthly active users in Europe decline about 1 million people amid the new regulations, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said.

Facebook的首席执行官马克·扎克伯格表示：“根据新规定，Facebook在欧洲的月度活跃用户将减少约100万人。”

Facebook's revenue grew at its slowest pace in almost three years.Sales grew 14 per cent to $US13.2 billion in the second quarter compared with $US9.3 billion a year ago. The company reported $US5.1 billion in profit, or $US1.74 per share, compared with the average estimates of $US5.1 billion and $US1.72 per share among research gathered by Thomson Reuters.

Facebook的收入增长速度达到3年来最低。第二季度的销售额增长了14%，达到132亿美元，去年同期为93亿美元。根据该公司报告，其利润为51亿美元，即每股1.74美元，而汤姆森路透收集的研究报告的数据为51亿美元及每股1.72美元。

Growth in new users slowed with Facebook adding 11 per cent more daily and monthly active users on the main Facebook app in the second quarter, compared with 13 per cent in the first quarter.

在Facebook的主要应用程序中，第二季度的新用户增长放缓，增加了11%的日常活跃用户和月度活跃用户，而第一季度的数据为13%。

Daily user growth for Facebook's namesake service has slid in six straight quarters, bringing it to 1.47 billion users in the second quarter from 1.23 billion at the end of 2016 when it became embroiled in political issues.

Facebook同名服务的每日用户增长已经连续6个季度下滑，第二季度的用户数量从2016年底的12.3亿用户增加到14亿用户，当时它卷入了政治问题。

Nearly all social media services have received greater scrutiny since US intelligence agencies in January 2017 revealed that organisations tied to the Russian government had seeded content on the platform to shake up the 2016 US presidential election.

2017年1月，美国情报机构揭露俄罗斯政府通过社交平台干预美国2016年总统大选。自那以后，几乎所有社交平台都受到了更严格的审查。

The threat of additional regulatory setbacks remains a concern, according to analysts.

分析专家认为，监管方面出现意料之外的威胁仍然令人忧心。