In a story published Tuesday by The Verge, claiming a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation, social media behemoth Facebook Inc. is planning to rebrand itself with a new name starting next week.
The Verge reported that Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to speak about the company's name change during its annual Connect Conference on October 28. However, the name change could be announced sooner.
Responding to the news, the social media platform said it does not comment on "rumor or speculation."
The Verge story comes at a time when Facebook is under increased investigation from the United States government for its business practices.
Lawmakers from both political parties have slammed the social media giant, demonstrating the growing level of dissatisfaction with Facebook among members of the U.S. Congress.
The Verge went on to say that the rebranding would position Facebook's social networking app as one of several products under a parent company that will also control groups such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and others, as well as Facebook itself.
It is not commonplace for companies in the Silicon Valley to change their names in order to compete for new customers and services.
As a holding company, Alphabet Inc. was founded by Google in 2015 to allow the company to expand outside its search and advertising operations and to supervise numerous other ventures ranging from its autonomous vehicle unit and health technologies to delivering internet services in rural locations.
A source disclosed that Facebook's decision to rename will also represent the company's commitment to developing the so-called metaverse, an online world in which individuals can move around and converse using a variety of gadgets in a virtual environment.
Facebook has made significant investments in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), with the goal of connecting its almost 3 billion users across a variety of devices and applications.
This metaverse will be built, it was declared on Tuesday, and it intends to do so by creating 10,000 new employment opportunities in the European Union over the next five years.
Because Zuckerberg has been talking about metaverse since July, other tech companies, including Microsoft, have jumped on the bandwagon. The term was initially used in a dystopian novel 30 years ago and has since gained popularity.
