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But the tech firm seems immune to bad publicity, writes our North America tech correspondent.
For much of the past year, Meta has been embroiled in a series of legal actions, accused of deliberately designing products that are addictive to young users.
It's about whistleblower claims that Meta executives were aware of their products harming young people.
Succession actor Jeremy Strong plays Zuckerberg as a "full-on villain", according to a review in the Hollywood Reporter, "stoically arguing that even the slightest gesture of responsibility is anathema where money is concerned".
Last summer, Reuters revealed that Meta allowed its chatbots to "engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual", and provide false medical information to users.
In March, a jury gave $6m (£4.5m) to a 20-year-old California woman who claimed she suffered mental health harms related to her use of Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube.
Meta says it disagrees with the verdicts and is appealing both cases.
Meta disputes many of the claims
"Once the public has stopped trusting you, it's kind of a downward spiral," says associate professor Alison Taylor of New York University's Stern School of Business.
But despite those high-profile cases, the company reported that the number of people using some of its apps (like Instagram and WhatsApp) has risen 3% year on year and this year's second quarter revenue was up 28% compared with the same period in 2025.
While it has agreed to temper its pursuit of the teen market (which many brands eagerly cultivate to build their future user base), the company has said that teens accounted for less than 1% of its revenue anyway.
"I think they're in a remarkably good position that I didn't expect them to be in," says Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy.
(The company has said it disagrees with the verdict and will defend itself against what it says are efforts to distort its record.)
"I think they're making an investment to position themselves as a category leader," says Kate Winick, principal analyst at Forrester, covering social media and influencers.
Zuckerberg also just announced new audio-only smart glasses, an apparent bid to quell privacy concerns.
So why would a consumer want to trust them with some of their most private and sensitive information?" says Brooke Istook of the Heat Initiative, a campaign group.
"Given how personal Muse and the content on your glasses is, we designed state-of-the-art privacy and security into all these systems from the beginning," Zuckerberg told the audience.
But Winick says users still have to opt into many of those protections.
Not long after Zuckerberg took the stage in California, social media users started reporting cases of Muse running amok, including claims that the agent read emails without permission.
Meta has pushed back against these reports, saying it does not believe that Muse accesses emails unless a user has consented.
In the end, the bulk of users may be willing to make some concessions on privacy if it means convenience and utility, says Moorhead.
Meta reported $60.8bn in revenue and $15.9bn in profit for the second quarter of this year.
"It's a very real time-saving benefit that a lot of people will want and will like," says Winick.
"It's really about your agent, who can do work on your behalf, who is your constant ally in whatever you're trying to accomplish in your goals in your life," Andrew Bosworth, the company's chief technology officer, said in an interview with the BBC.