Facebook has renamed itself “Meta”. Company representatives say the move was done to emphasize its ‘metaverse’ vision.
But the names of their social media platforms – Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – will remain unchanged.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its focus on building the metaverse.
“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,” he said.
The tech giant said the change would bring together its different apps and technologies under one new brand. It said it would not change its corporate structure.
The metaverse, a term first coined in a dystopian novel three decades ago and now attracting buzz in Silicon Valley, refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual environment which can be accessed by people using different devices.
The company unveiled a new sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Thursday, replacing its thumbs-up “Like” logo with a blue infinity shape.
This comes after a myriad of scandals, including a whistle blower account of glossing over abuse of minors, secret harvesting of users’ sensitive data, and loads of privacy breaches.
It also comes amidst a lawsuit by two former staffers against Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, his wife and their family office for alleged harassment, discrimination and non-payment of salaries.
