META Stock Slips — Meta Names Former PayPal Executive Assaf Keren As New Chief Information Security Officer

• Keren joins from Qualtrics after previously serving as chief information security officer at PayPal.
• The incoming CISO said his focus will be embedding security and trust into Meta’s AI systems from the outset.
• Despite ‘neutral’ retail sentiment on Stocktwits, some traders expect Meta to hold its margins through the AI spending cycle and see the stock reaching $750 after earnings.

Meta Platforms Inc. (META) appointed veteran cybersecurity executive Assaf Keren as its next chief information security officer (CISO), filling a key leadership role after the company's previous CISO announced plans to step down in June. The leadership change comes as Meta continues to expand its artificial intelligence efforts.

META stock, however, traded nearly 3% lower on Wednesday afternoon despite the announcement.

META Taps Former PYPL Security Chief

Assaf Keren will join Meta this week from software platform Qualtrics, where he served as chief information security officer for the past two years. Before Qualtrics, he held the same position at PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL).

He will succeed Guy Rosen, who will remain Meta’s chief information security officer during a transition period lasting several months before departing the company later this year, according to a company spokesperson, reported Bloomberg.

Rosen joined Meta in 2013. During his tenure, he held many senior leadership roles, including overseeing Meta’s election integrity efforts following the 2016 election and, more recently, helping integrate artificial intelligence into the company's internal business operations, reported Bloomberg.

Meta’s New CISO Outlines AI Security Priorities

Keren said in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday that his priority at Meta will be to strengthen security and trust as the company expands its artificial intelligence efforts.

Calling Meta a place “where the future is being built,” he said the company must focus on “building security and trust into these systems from the start rather than bolting it on after.” He added that the challenge is to ensure AI systems are “worthy of the trust we place in them.”

Keren said he is joining Meta because “building AI at the frontier means building the trust infrastructure for it at the same frontier,” describing the task as one of the industry’s most consequential engineering challenges.

META Stock: What Stocktwits Retail Sentiment Says

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for META remained ‘neutral,’ unchanged in the past 24 hours, while message volume was ‘low.’

Meta Platforms is scheduled to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 29, with some Stocktwits retail traders closely watching whether the company can maintain profit margins despite heavy AI-related capital expenditure.

A bullish Stocktwits retail trader said the key metric for hyperscalers this earnings season will be profit margins, adding that companies able to “demonstrate they are able to maintain or even increase the profit margin during this AI buildout investment phase, they'll be rewarded nicely.”

Another bullish retail trader dismissed Meta’s failure to hold above $650, predicting the stock could reach $750 following its earnings report.

META shares have fallen around 4.7% year-to-date.

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