Facebook Announces The Rebranding Of The Company As Meta In The Face Of Mounting Controversy
Facebook announces the rebranding of the company as Meta in the face of mounting controversy
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, laid out his vision for the internet's future at a company conference on Thursday, which he believes will evolve through the so-called "metaverse." Zuckerberg's vision for the internet's future comes in the face of mounting controversy surrounding his beleaguered technology company.
Aside from a name change, Zuckerberg announced that the company would be renamed "Meta" to better reflect the company's evolving interests. However, some critics have charged that Facebook is attempting to use the high-profile name change announcement to divert attention away from the renewed scrutiny it has been subjected to by lawmakers and others in recent weeks.
A three-dimensional digital world created by augmented and virtual reality products and services, the metaverse, will be "the mobile internet's successor," according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who delivered the keynote address at the Connect conference on Thursday. A virtual avatar and virtual reality hardware were used by the CEO to demonstrate several of the experiences that he claims will soon be available in the digital realm. These included connecting with friends and family, gaming, exercising, and even working remotely using a digital avatar.
As he explained, "We've begun segmenting our business and reporting on it separately, one for our family of apps and another for work on future platforms, and it is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything we do as well as reflect who we are and what we hope to build."
"I am pleased to announce that our company has achieved the status of meta," Zuckerberg said further.
He went on to explain that the phrase comes from the Greek word for "beyond," and that it is intended to convey the message that "there is always more to build, and that there is always a next chapter to the story."
In addition, the CEO stated that "our mission of bringing people together remains the same, as do our apps and their brands." Despite the fact that we will continue to be the company that designs technology with people in mind, we now have a new North Star to assist in bringing the metaverse to life, as well as a new name that reflects the breadth of our work and the future that we wish to contribute to."
The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, concluded by saying, "We're going to prioritize the metaverse over Facebook from now on."
Following a company whistleblower's testimony before Congress, Frances Haugen, who claimed that Facebook executives showed blatant disregard when they learned that their platform could have negative effects on democracy and young people's mental health, the company announced its name change.
"Facebook has chosen to prioritize profits over people," Haugen said in her opening statement before members of the Senate Commerce subcommittee. Haugen worked as a product manager for Facebook before joining the committee.
In Haugen's words, "you have the option of declaring moral bankruptcy, and we can work together to resolve these issues."
During his remarks on Thursday, Zuckerberg did not directly address Haugen's allegations, instead stating that "the last few years have been humbling in a variety of ways for me and our company." It was primarily through his more than an hour-long remarks that we saw him demonstrate his vision for the future of humanity's use of the metaverse and virtual or augmented reality tools, both in the near and distant future.
