Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media site will change the name of its parent company to Meta, in an attempt to move away from the privacy crises that have plagued the platform.
The rebrand is part of the “metaverse” – a digital world built from the ground up by users. At Facebook’s annual AR/VR conference on Thursday, Zuckerberg was confident in the new direction of the company.
“We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet” he said. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.”
However, the announcement comes during a dreadful time for the company. Whistleblower Frances Haugen has exposed toxic business practices.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 for “deceiving” users after several congressional hearings.
Critics of Facebook believe that the recent focus on creating the ‘metaverse’ poses as a distraction from the PR nightmare the company finds itself in.
Zuckerberg is staunch in his belief that the ‘metaverse’ will be a success. The company has dedicated $10 billion in 2021 to ‘metaverse’ project.
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