Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, in July 2021.Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesMeta can thank Chinese retailers for helping lift the company’s first-quarter sales after three consecutive quarters of revenue declines.As chief financial officer Susan Li told analysts during the earnings call, the social networking giant “saw acceleration among advertisers in China targeting users and other markets, which we believe was due in part to dropping shipping costs and easing Covid lockdown for those advertisers.”In other words, Chinese companies spent a lot of money over a three-month period ended in late March on Facebook ads intended for consumers living outside the country. It’s a sign that China’s recent easing of its zero-Covid policy has indirectly benefited Meta, with Chinese companies using Facebook and Instagram’s massive reach around the world to land new customers.Still, Meta’s sales grew only 3% year over year to $28.65 billion during the first quarter, underscoring that there’s still turbulence in the digital advertising market.Li said that Meta also saw stronger demand in the quarter as Russia’s war in Ukraine passed its one-year mark as of February. But she wasn’t prepared to say that the rest of year will be smooth sailing.Meta expects “a volatile macro environment” for the re …
