Meta: Facebook is Building a VR Metaverse Under New Name

ANNOUNCES NEW VR HEADSET AND AR SMARTGLASSES

Mark Zuckerberg just said that his company is getting rebranded as Meta, as it hopes to work on the VR applications of the future. This announcement came during a Facebook crisis resulting in increased regulatory and legislative scrutiny after the Facebook Papers got revealed.

In this documents, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, revealed that the company was constantly downplaying and ignoring the internal warnings about the harmful and negative impact that its social media products have.

According to some people, rebranding to Meta is simply a marketing strategy that will help Facebook drive the attention away from the leak. Nevertheless, Mark Zuckerberg stated that he is expecting Meta to reach 1 billion users within the coming decade.

The Meta is simply a shared VR environment that people using various devices will be able to access. According to Mark Zuckerberg, this will be a virtual place where people can create products, work, interact, and create content.

Announcing @Meta — the Facebook company’s new name. Meta is helping to build the metaverse, a place where we’ll play and connect in 3D. Welcome to the next chapter of social connection. pic.twitter.com/ywSJPLsCoD

— Meta (@Meta) October 28, 2021

According to him, Meta could create millions of jobs for content creators through collaboration. Regarding this, Zuckerberg stated that Facebook does not cover everything that the company is doing and intends to do.

Regarding this, he stated, “we are a company that builds technology to connect people.”

Other than Facebook, Zuckerberg also owns Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, the Quest VR, and Horizon VR platforms. These apps will remain a part of the corporate structure of the company. However, the shares will trade under MVRS on 1st December.

The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. It's a collective project that will be created by people all over the world, and open to everyone. You’ll be able to socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what’s possible today. pic.twitter.com/655yFRm8yZ

— Meta (@Meta) October 28, 2021

Over the last few years, Facebook has gone through various blows regarding policies of abuse, hate speech, and misinformation. Other than that, the platform has also been under scrutiny for the way it handles data.

An anti-trust lawsuit was already filed against Facebook by the US Federal Trade Commission, which accused the company of malpractice. Regarding the rebranding to Meta, Mike Proulx, Director at Forrester Research, stated that rebranding “doesn’t suddenly erase the systemic issues plaguing the company.”

Nevertheless, Mark Zuckerberg’s vision is indeed quite interesting, as it will open a virtual realm for everyone to interact.