Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, announced Thursday that the parent company's name will be changed to "Meta" to reflect a future beyond its problematic social network.
The revision coincides with the company's shift to the "metaverse," a term that refers to efforts to integrate virtual and augmented reality technologies into a new online universe.
Simultaneously, the company is grappling with real-world issues following the leak of hundreds of internal documents detailing the company's internal culture, approach to misinformation and hate speech moderation, internal research on its newsfeed algorithm, and communication regarding the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
"I am pleased to report that our company has changed its name to Meta as of today. Our mission has not changed; it is still about connecting people; our apps and their brands have not changed," Zuckerberg said.
Having said that, Facebook the social network will continue to exist. Meta has been renamed to reflect the company's ownership of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus.
Zuckerberg revealed the new moniker during a virtual keynote address at the company's Connect conference. Facebook and its "family of apps" will operate as a part of the bigger Meta firm, which will continue to be managed by Zuckerberg.
Meta will be divided into two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs, with the former housing all of the apps and the latter housing everything VR and AR.
The reorganisation bears some resemblance to Google's reorganization into Alphabet, the holding company that currently owns Google and its "other ventures" such as Nest and DeepMind.
Facebook previously stated that it intends to report financial results separately for Facebook Reality Labs, its augmented and virtual reality division.
Facebook added in a statement that its "corporate structure" will remain unchanged. Additionally, the tech giant is changing its stock symbol from FB to MVRS in December.
With the change in identity, Facebook will no longer be known by its iconic "thumbs up," which will no longer be used as the company's official emblem or on signage at its headquarters.
Facebook recently announced intentions to hire 10,000 individuals in the European Union to work on the "metaverse," with Zuckerberg emerging as the concept's major proponent.
