TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
New name for Facebook? "Don't change the subject", critics say
The report from website The Verge, which Facebook refused to confirm, said the embattled company was aiming to show its ambition to be more than a social media site.
Change Size
US Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) speaks as Facebook Global Head of Safety Director, Antigone Davis, testifies before a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security to examine protecting children online, focusing on Facebook, Instagram, and mental health harms, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 30, 2021. (AFP/Patrick Semansky)
F
acebook critics pounced Wednesday on a report the leading social network plans to rename itself, arguing it may be seeking to distract from recent scandals and controversy.
The report from website The Verge, which Facebook refused to confirm, said the embattled company was aiming to show its ambition to be more than a social media site.
But an activist group calling itself The Real Facebook Oversight Board, warned major industries like oil and tobacco had rebranded to "deflect attention" from their problems.
"Facebook thinks that a rebrand can help them change the subject," said the group's statement, adding the "real issue" was the need for oversight and regulation.
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone told AFP: "We don't have any comment and aren't confirming The Verge's report."
The Verge cited an unnamed source noting the name would reflect Facebook's efforts to build the "metaverse", a virtual reality version of the internet that the tech giant sees as the future.
Facebook on Monday announced plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union to build the "metaverse", with CEO Mark Zuckerberg emerging as a leading promoter of the concept.
