Facebook's new name, "Meta", appears to have an ominous meaning in Hebrew - the word is very similar to the feminine version of "dead" in this language. Due to this detail, Hebrew speakers have flocked to other social media platforms to cackle over the rebranding.
Under the hashtag #FacebookDead, Israeli users shared their thoughts about the company's new name and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who spent his childhood in a Reform Jewish household, and, according to netizens, could have done a bit more research on his rebranding.
Some people joked about how the choice of the new name is "prophetic" for Zuckerberg's social media platform.
Others recalled the accusations of plagiarism, when similarities were spotted between Meta's new logo with that of a German-based health company, "M-sense Migräne".
Facebook announced its rebranding into Meta on 28 October after fending off a lot of bad press, which included a cascade of stories about how the platform failed to protect its users from harmful content and combat misinformation, titled "The Facebook Papers". The stories were based on the company's internal documents leaked to the press by former employees, mainly by whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Commenting on the rebrand, Zuckerberg said that it was done in order for the company to evolve into what he describes as the "metaverse".
"Our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can't possibly represent everything we're doing today, let alone the future", he asserted.
In connection with "The Facebook Papers", Zuckerberg said that it is a coordinated move by news agencies and whistleblowers in order to create a "false image" of his company.