After Facebook, the world’s largest social media company, came under scrutiny for its market power, algorithmic decisions, and the policing of abuses on its services, the company announced its name change, now called Meta.The company said on Thursday that it will now focus on building the ‘metaverse’ instead. A shared virtual environment, which Facebook believes will be the rise of the internet. CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke at the company’s live-streamed Virtual and Augmented reality Conference, confirming that the new name will reflect its works investigating the metaverse while keeping its social media service name, Facebook. “Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,” said Zuckerberg.A TARNISHED REPUTATION The tech giant has increasingly faced battles of criticism in recent years from lawmakers and regulators. In the latest controversy, documents were leaked by former employee Frances Haugen, showing the company chose profit over user safety. Further reputation hits include The U.S. Federal trade commission who filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging anticompetitive practices.The name change will be a significant rebrand for Facebook, but it’s not the first. A new logo was launched in 2019 to create a distinction between the company and the app.Zuckerberg said the new name, coming from the Greek word “beyond” symbolizes that there was always something more to build. The new name also suggests that over time, users won’t have to use Facebook to experience other services of the company. “While it’ll help alleviate confusion by distinguishing Facebook’s parent company from its founding app, a name change doesn’t suddenly erase the systematic issues plaguing the company.”Mike Proulx, Research Director – ForresterAccording to a recent blog post, the company intends to start trading under its reserved stock ticker, MVRS, on 1 December 2021. On Thursday, a new sign was unveiled at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The sign replaced its thumbs-up “Like” logo with a blue infinity shape. Facebook shares closed 1.5% higher at $316.92.Invest with Europe’s Leading Broker today.Resources: https://www.reuters.com/technology/facebooks-zuckerberg-kicks-off-its-virtual-reality-event-with-metaverse-vision-2021-10-28/ https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/facebooks-zuckerberg-kicks-off-its-virtual-reality-event-with-metaverse-vision-2659643