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Facebook saw its fastest growth this quarter since 2016, the company revealed in its earnings report on Wednesday, despite regulatory concerns and criticisms surrounding misinformation on the platform, the Guardian reported.

The social media company’s overall revenue hit $29bn, above forecasts of $27.89bn, and its profits doubled from a year earlier to $10.39bn thanks to a boom in online advertising. However, it warned of a potential slowdown in the second half of the year.

Shares slid back nearly 4% in after-hours trading following warnings from chief financial officer David Wehner that the company expects year-over-year revenue growth to slow “significantly” as an uptick in digital ad sales related to Covid-19 recovery slows back down. He said the company expects growth to slow “modestly” in the second half of the year.

Facebook’s strong performance follows record-setting financial reports in recent days from Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Google parent Alphabet. Amazon reports its results on Thursday.

The report comes after Facebook announced a renewed commitment to a “metaverse” project – which involves using artificial reality and virtual reality to allow users to inhabit digital worlds together. It has also recently announced it will pay $1bn to creators over the next year in an effort to foster more original content on the platform.