Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook Inc, his creation was synonymous. But as the social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its platforms, the tech giant decided to go in for a change of name. Facebook is now Meta.
With this change, Facebook will be able to bring together its different apps and technologies under one new brand. It said it would not change its corporate structure, said Reuters.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its focus on building the metaverse.
The metaverse, a term first coined in a dystopian novel three decades ago and now attracting buzz in Silicon Valley, refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual environment which can be accessed by people using different devices, Reuters said.
Zuckerberg said privacy and safety need to be built in to the metaverse, as he opened the company’s annual virtual and augmented reality conference on Thursday, according to the news report.
