What's in a Name? Facebook's Now Called Meta

13:09 GMT, 29 October 2021
The rebranding comes after a series of negative media reports about Facebook that cited documents leaked by a former employee. The reports claimed that Facebook had not reacted on time to a growing amount of content that harmed teenage mental health, and also had struggled to remove hate speech from its platforms outside the US.
Sputnik
On Thursday, Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebranding process. According to the company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, the new name would "broaden its reach beyond social media into areas such as virtual reality".
This change applies only to the parent company and not individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The change comes in the wake of a series of media stories, based on files leaked by former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, who also accused the company of putting "profits over safety". Commenting on these allegations, Zuckerberg said that the reports were a "coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our company".
Meanwhile, a poll recently conducted by Brand Analytics in Russia shows that Facebook's decision to rebrand to Meta has not been widely discussed by Russian users. Unlike the recent Facebook outage, the change in the company's name has not caused a stir among Russian users, the poll said.
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Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference to announce the rebrand of Facebook to Meta, in this screen grab taken from a video released on 28 October 2021.

© REUTERS / Facebook
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An avatar of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is seen carrying a US flag while riding a hydrofoil in the "Metaverse" during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference to announce that Facebook was being rebranded to Meta, in this screengrab taken from a video released on 28 October 2021.

© REUTERS / Facebook
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Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is seen fencing in the "Metaverse" with an Olympic gold medal fencer during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference to announce the rebranding of Facebook, in this screengrab taken from a video released on 28 October 2021.

© REUTERS / Facebook
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Facebook employees unveil a new logo and the name 'Meta' on the sign in front of Facebook headquarters on 28 October 2021 in Menlo Park, San Mateo county in the state of California.

© AFP 2023 / Getty Images North America / Justin Sullivan
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Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is seen after fencing in the "Metaverse" with an Olympic gold medal fencer during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference to announce Facebook's rebranding.

© REUTERS / Facebook
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Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg speaks to an avatar of himself in the "Metaverse" during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference to announce the rebranding of Facebook.

© REUTERS / Facebook
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Facebook employees take a photo with the company's new name and logo outside its headquarters in Menlo Park, San Mateo county in California on 28 October 2021 after the company announced that it is changing its name to Meta Platforms Inc.

© AP Photo / Tony Avelar
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An aerial view shows a newly unveiled logo for "Meta", the new name for Facebook's parent company, in front of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, in San Mateo county, California on 28 October 2021.

© AFP 2023 / Noah Berger
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