This week, Meta Platforms announced a significant increase in advertising revenue, exceeding Wall Street financial forecasts for the second quarter and projecting third-quarter revenue that was higher than anticipated by the market.

The results from Meta, Facebook's parent company, follow a solid showing from Alphabet's Google the day before and demonstrate that customers and the marketers eager to reach them are still making purchases despite widespread economic fears.

However, the company also anticipated that prices would increase in 2023 and 2024, citing expenses such as legal fees and increasing spending on infrastructure seen as essential to the tech sector's fevered AI race.

After significant cost-cutting in other areas of the firm, such as safety teams and fundamental operational procedures, that spending is the result.

Shares of Meta rose 7.5 percent in after-hours trading.

In comparison to the average forecast of $31.12 billion made by analysts, Meta's second-quarter revenue increased 11 percent to $32 billion in the quarter that ended on June 30.

Ad revenue increased by 12 percent during the quarter, outpacing Google's rise of three percent. Refinitiv data show that adjusted earnings per share of $2.98 exceeded Wall Street expectations of $2.91.

The social networking behemoth has been recovering from a painful 2022, helped along by the buzz surrounding cutting-edge AI technology and a drive for austerity that has seen it lay off almost 21,000 staff since last year.

As a result, the value of the company's shares has more than doubled this year.

Encouraged by indications that the economy may escape a period of high inflation without experiencing a big meltdown, advertisers are consolidating those gains by investing in digital advertising once more after months of restrained spending.

However, brands are taking a safe bet and sticking with tried-and-true platforms. That benefits Meta and Alphabet while penalizing smaller competitors like Snap, which just Thursday reported weak sales.

In part as a result of deferring some costs associated with artificial intelligence to 2024, when capex is anticipated to increase, Meta reduced its capital expenditure prediction for 2023.