“Faced with a tsunami of evidence of irresponsible behavior and possible criminal violations, Facebook is desperate to change the subject,” Roger McNamee, an early investor in the company who has become one of the company’s most vocal critics, told Recode. Some Facebook critics have argued that a splashy new name serves as a convenient media distraction from the deeper issues at hand - comparing the strategy to that of tobacco giant Philip Morris changing its name to Altria in 2001 or British Petroleum to BP Amoco in the late ’90s and then BP in 2001. The name change could also help Facebook distance itself from the baggage associated with its main product as it builds out its shiny new metaverse-related products, like Oculus headsets and other AR/VR wearable devices. And this reported name change shows that Zuckerberg will reorient the entire Facebook brand around it. The company recently announced 10,000 new hires in the EU who will work on the metaverse. The CEO told journalist Casey Newton in March that Facebook will be a metaverse company - not a social media company - in the next five years.
Zuckerberg sees the metaverse as the next phase of major technological innovation akin to the invention of the internet or mobile phones. Instead, he and his company have dismissed the whistleblower’s complaints and evidence, and are plowing ahead with a longstanding plan to turn the science-fiction concept of a metaverse into a business reality.ĭo you work at Facebook and have thoughts about what’s going on at the company? Get in touch with Shirin Ghaffary confidentially at Signal number available upon request.įor Facebook, this isn’t a new idea. Rather than announcing serious reforms in response to the whistleblower’s revelations, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made no apologies. It still has its sights set on expanding its domination and world-building, which is what it’s trying to achieve with its metaverse plans. “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation.” said Facebook spokesperson Joe Osborne in response to Recode’s questions about the company.īut one thing this rebrand makes clear is that despite the massive challenges Facebook is facing, it isn’t slowing down or staying in a defensive crouch. The Verge indicated it will connect to the company’s focus on the “metaverse,” a developing digital platform enhanced by augmented and virtual reality where people interact through digital avatars. There’s still a lot we don’t know, including what exactly Facebook’s new corporate name will be. So what’s really going on? Is the name change meant to be a distraction from its bigger problems? A sign of more company changes to come? And when did Facebook first come up with this idea? The nearly $1 trillion company that owns Instagram and WhatsApp is facing its biggest scandal in years over damning internal documents leaked by a whistleblower, as well as mounting antitrust scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators. Facebook’s plan to change its company name, as first reported by The Verge, comes at a peculiar time.
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