Facebook plans to rebrand with a new name
Move comes as CMA fines Facebook £50.5 million over refusing to provide information related to Giphy purchase
Social media giant Facebook is planning to rebrand itself with a new name that reflects its focus on building the 'metaverse', The Verge has reported.
Citing a source with knowledge of the matter, the news outlet said that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to announce the name change at the company's Connect conference on 28 October, although it could be unveiled sooner.
The Verge's source said that the "new Facebook company name is a closely-guarded secret within its walls and not known widely, even among its full senior leadership."
In response, a Facebook spokesperson said that the company does not comment on "rumour or speculation."
According to The Verge, the rebranding will likely position Facebook's flagship app as one of many products under a parent company, which will also oversee brands like WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus and more.
Google adopted such a structure in 2015 when it reorganised into a holding firm called Alphabet. The move enabled the company to expand beyond its search and advertising businesses and to run various other projects ranging from health technology and self-driving vehicles to offering internet services in remote areas.
Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook in 2004, has been talking about the metaverse concept for several months, saying it would be the key to Facebook's future.
Metaverse is a virtual world where people can move between different devices and communicate in a virtual environment. The company's Oculus VR headsets and service are a key part of realising that vision, and the company also plans to invest $50 million to collaborate with other organisations to responsibly build the virtual world technology.
"In the coming years, I expect people will transition from seeing us primarily as a social media company to seeing us as a metaverse company," Zuckerberg said in July.
"And I think it's going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area."
The planned move from Facebook comes at the time when the company is under fire from lawmakers and regulators worldwide over its business practices.
In 2019, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and some prominent US Democratic politicians said that the social media giant needs to be broken up by US regulatory agencies in order to reign in CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "staggering" power.
Facebook's troubles
Earlier this month, whistle-blower Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team, accused the firm of prioritising profit over public safety.
She said that the firm's own evidence shows that Facebook is lying to the public about making significant progress against misinformation, hate and violence.
Ms Haugen left the company in May, and since then she has provided thousands of Facebook's internal documents to lawmakers and regulators.
She also shared those documents with the Wall Street Journal, which last month began releasing the findings in batches, sometimes referred to as the Facebook Files.
Earlier this month, Ms Haugen testified before a Senate subcommittee in a hearing about the Facebook's research into the impact of Instagram on the mental health of teenagers.
CMA fine
Facebook on Wednesday was issued a £50.5 million fine by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for breaching an order imposed during the regulator's investigation into Facebook's $400m (£290m) takeover of Giphy.
The CMA said that Facebook "deliberately" refused to supply information proving that it was complying with an initial enforcement order (IEO). It added that it was the first time a firm had "consciously refused" to provide information under an IEO.
Joel Bamford, Senior Director of Mergers at the CMA, said: "We warned Facebook that its refusal to provide us with important information was a breach of the order but, even after losing its appeal in two separate courts, Facebook continued to disregard its legal obligations.
"This should serve as a warning to any company that thinks it is above the law."