Facebook planning name change to reflect ‘metaverse’: report

Facebook is planning to change the name of the company next week to something related to the “metaverse,” The Verge reported Tuesday.

The switch would reportedly see the classic Facebook app as one product alongside Instagram, WhatsApp and more under a yet-to-be-named parent company, a shift similar to the one Google did in 2015 when it created Alphabet.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment on The Verge’s report.

The social media giant has been pouring more resources into its metaverse project, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described as an “embodied internet,” announcing plans earlier this week to hire 10,000 workers dedicated to it in Europe over the next five years. 

The metaverse is “going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg told The Verge this summer. “And I think it’s going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area.”

The potential rebrand comes at a fraught moment for Facebook, which has faced renewed scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators following revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen about the extent of the company’s knowledge about its failures.