Can 'Meta' turn around facebook's scandal-ridden image? | DW News

Can 'Meta' turn around facebook's scandal-ridden image? | DW News

Social media giant Facebook is changing its name to "Meta" as part of a rebrand meant to highlight the company's new focus on developing "the metaverse." "From now on, we're going to be metaverse first, not Facebook first," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday. A week after teasing the news of the name change, Zuckerberg made the announcement on Thursday in a keynote address at Facebook Connect, the company's annual in-house virtual reality conference. The 37-year-old founder has spent much of the past year talking up this pivot. He has said he expects people will one day know Facebook as a "metaverse company" more than a social network.

This flashy endeavor at least temporarily distracts from Facebook's unending barrage of bad press. For years the social media giant has been under fire for encouraging the spread of misinformation and for its opaque policies around user data. Matters have only gotten worse in recent months after a whistleblower exposed many of the company's secrets. At the same time, the social platform is falling out of favor with younger users. Many are instead flocking to the Chinese-owned video app TikTok. Facebook makes money by selling targeted advertisements to marketers. But if user numbers dwindle, advertising revenue will, too.

If Facebook does want to stay in the game, it may indeed be the right moment to move away from its reliance on targeted advertising. The push to regulate the tech giant, particularly in the realm of user data privacy, has gained momentum over the last 18 months, something that could cripple its ability to make profit. This fact was made clear by Facebook's lower-than-expected growth in the second quarter of 2021. Zuckerberg said this was due to changes to iPhone maker Apple's privacy rules, which allow users to opt out of being tracked by third parties for advertising purposes.
Moving into the unknown realm of the metaverse poses major challenges. Facebook itself said succeeding will require at least 12 major technological breakthroughs. The whole movement could still fall on its face. But marketwise, it resembles the early days of the internet and social media in that it's still a regulatory Wild West, and enterprising tech players certainly see an opportunity to make money before lawmakers catch up.
DW spoke to ex-facebook employee turned whistleblower Sophie Zhang

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