Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., listens during the Viva Technology conference in Paris, France.
Stifel on Wednesday published a note saying it has lowered its rating for Facebook shares from "Buy" to "Hold," saying political and regulatory blowback could restrict how the company operates in the long term.
"Facebook's management team has created too many adversaries -- politicians/ regulators, tech leaders, consumers, and employees -- to not experience long-term negative ramifications on its business," the firm said in a note.
The lower rating comes after a rough year in which Facebook has experienced numerous scandals, a 30-million user data breach, declining and stalling growth in key markets, an executive exodus and its worst stock performance since going public in 2012.
Stifel also published the latest results from an on-going survey of Facebook users.
