Meta Platforms (META) is rated Questionable by Zoya in 2026. The company's businesses — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Reality Labs — pass the business activity screen for Islamic investing. The issue is financial: Meta earned interest income equal to 1.32% of its total revenue in FY2025, based on $200.966 billion in total revenue. That puts it just over the threshold some scholars apply to interest income, which triggers the Questionable designation.
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What makes Meta borderline for halal screening
Meta's core business is digital advertising. Businesses pay Meta to show ads to users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. That's the overwhelming majority of revenue. Advertising itself is generally permissible from an Islamic standpoint. The business doesn't involve alcohol, weapons, gambling, tobacco, pork, or conventional banking.
The financial flag is the interest income. Meta, like Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft, holds enormous amounts of cash and investments on its balance sheet. That cash earns interest by default, even though earning interest isn't Meta's business. In FY2025, that interest income came to roughly 1.32% of total revenue. The AAOIFI standard allows up to 5% — by that measure, Meta passes. Zoya's methodology uses a stricter threshold, and Meta falls just over it.
What the business activity screen looks at
Halal stock screening starts with what the company does. Prohibited business activities include conventional financial services (banking, insurance with riba elements), alcohol production or distribution, tobacco, weapons, pork, pornography, and gambling. Meta doesn't operate in any of these categories. Its revenue is advertising, and its products are social platforms and virtual reality hardware. Those pass on business activity.
Some Muslim scholars raise concerns about content carried on Meta's platforms specifically. Social media carries content that ranges from benign to harmful, and some scholars argue that a company primarily profiting from the distribution of that content carries some responsibility for it. This is a minority scholarly view and not reflected in standard halal screening methodology, but worth knowing if you hold a stricter approach to permissible investments.
Comparing Meta to other major tech stocks
Meta is in the same category as the other large U.S. tech companies on halal screening. Microsoft is rated Questionable with 0.94% interest income. Amazon is Questionable at 0.61%. Netflix is Questionable as well. Google at 1.26% is also Questionable. These companies all hold cash and earn interest on it, which creates the borderline status in stricter Islamic screening frameworks.
The pattern is consistent: the core businesses of these companies are broadly permissible, but the sheer scale of their cash reserves means meaningful interest income in absolute dollar terms even when it's a small percentage of revenue. See the Microsoft halal screening article for a direct comparison of how these situations are evaluated.
Purification as a practical approach
Muslim investors who follow scholarly opinions that allow investing in Questionable-rated stocks often use purification. The practice involves calculating what fraction of dividends or investment returns came from impermissible sources (here, the 1.32% interest income) and donating that amount to charity. For Meta, which pays no dividend, purification applies to any realized gain at sale — a small portion equal to the interest income percentage would be given to charity.
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Others prefer not to invest in any stock carrying a Questionable rating, full stop. Both approaches have scholarly support. Check the HalalWallet guide on what makes a stock halal for a deeper explanation of purification and how different scholars approach it.
How to check Meta's current screening status
Meta reports quarterly financials, and its interest income as a percentage of revenue changes each quarter. The Questionable rating is based on current data and will update as new results come in. Use Zoya or Musaffa to get Meta's current screening status before making any investment decision, since the rating you see today reflects the most recent available financial data.
Frequently asked questions
Is Meta Platforms (META) halal to invest in?
Meta is rated Questionable by Zoya as of 2026, based on interest income of 1.32% of total revenue. The business passes the activity screen. Whether to invest depends on which scholarly opinion you follow and whether you apply purification to borderline stocks.
What is Meta's interest income?
Meta's interest income was approximately 1.32% of total revenue ($200.966 billion) in FY2025. This comes from interest earned on Meta's cash holdings and investment portfolio, not from a banking or lending business.
Does Meta pass AAOIFI halal stock screening?
At 1.32% interest income, Meta would pass the AAOIFI 5% threshold for interest income. Whether it passes other AAOIFI screening criteria (including debt ratios and receivables) depends on the full calculation. Zoya's stricter screening methodology generates a Questionable rating.
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Is Facebook specifically halal?
Facebook is a product of Meta Platforms, not a separately traded company. When you invest in META stock, you own a piece of all Meta's businesses: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs. The screening applies to the whole company.
