Facebook passes two billion monthly users

Social networking site Facebook has surpassed the two billion user per month mark, just 13 years after it was launched.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the news on Tuesday, which means the company is now engaging with over one-quarter of the world’s population.

The social network's user base hit one billion in 2012, having doubled in less than five years.

“As of this morning, the Facebook community is now officially two billion people," Zuckerberg posted on the site.

“We're making progress connecting the world, and now let's bring the world closer together,” added Zuckerberg, who many commentators have suggested may be considering a run for US President.

The social network hit one billion users in 2012

Facebook’s growth comes in the midst of increasing competition from the likes of trendy new apps such as Snapchat, which went public in the US earlier this year.

It has recently come under pressure to moderate publications on the network more closely following the recording and uploading of several violent incidents. The company announced it would hire an extra 3,000 people in order to increase its moderation power.

Facebook’s shares fell on Tuesday as the tech-heavy Nasdaq index was affected by the record fine of €2.4bn dished out to Google by the European Commission. Zuckerberg’s firm was down 1.96% at the close of trading on Wall Street.