A Lib Dem peer and former Facebook vice president has today claimed the social media firm’s name change to Meta has been a ‘long time coming’ and is not related to the company’s whistleblower scandal.
Lord Richard Allen, who has been working with the US tech giant for ten years, claims that the announcement is to resolve ‘confusion’ between Facebook, the company, and Facebook, the product.
Facebook Inc is the current overarching company behind Facebook. It operates the social media site as well as sister apps Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus virtual reality software.
Last night, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook Inc, announced that the company would be renamed Meta starting December 1.
The name change comes as Facebook continues to face a barrage of criticism following claims by former employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Ms. Haugen leaking internal documents made shocking claims that it ‘puts profit over people’ by knowingly harming teenage girls with its content, and inflaming anger among users.
Lord Allen, an ex-MP who joined Facebook as its vice president for policy solutions in 2009, said that the name change was practical.
Speaking to BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme, Lord Allen, who is a Liberal Democrat life peer, said: ‘I think from a practical point of view this change has clearly been a long time in the making and ends a confusion that has been there for many years.
Lord Richard Allen, a 10 year veteran of the US tech giant, said that the announcement was made to address ‘confusion’ between Facebook, the company, and Facebook the product.
Facebook Inc is the current overarching company behind Facebook (pictured founder Mark Zuckerberg and CEO) and operates the social media site as well as sister site Instagram, and messaging service Whatsapp.
Last night, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of the company, announced that it would be renamed Meta
Facebook is currently facing criticism for its name change. This follows claims made by Frances Haugen (pictured), a former employee who was whistleblower.
“When I worked there, you ended up in this really difficult position.”
‘So it’s a long time that people have been saying, as we’ve grown beyond that big blue app how do we best reflect that in our conversations?’
Asked if the timing was right, with the current negative press around Facebook, he said: ‘I think it is critical they do it now. From a company point of view, what Mark wants is to be positioned as a company at the forefront of innovation and social media is no longer seen as innovative, it’s seen as old school technology.
‘And for attracting staff to the company, it’s going to be easier to attract people to Meta, who may come and work on this big blue app, that it is to get people to work for Facebook.
‘A lot of computer engineers as we’ve seen through this process are motivated by social motivations, political motivations, and Facebook has taken a battering.
‘I think there’s a lot of people who would hold back from working for Facebook because it’s old technology and seen as harmful but who would work for this new company.’
Yesterday, Zuckerberg announced the name change at the Facebook Connect augmented reality and virtual reality conference.
During the announcement, workers at the Silicon Valley headquarters pulled down the curtain bearing the iconic “Like” sign to reveal their new name and logo.
Meta is Zuckerberg’s vision of the company’s transition to shared augmented reality where users can work and play in virtual worlds.
The attempt to escape from reality couldn’t have been made at a better time. Facebook Inc., the parent company of Instagram and WhatsApp, will retain its Facebook name. Meta, however, will be used by Meta. It will trade under MVRS starting December 1.
After Frances Haugen, whistleblower, leaked internal documents, the company is in deep crisis. She made shocking claims that it ‘puts profit over people’ by knowingly harming teens with its content and inciting anger among users.
Frances Haugen, whistleblower for the company, leaked internal documents. She claimed that the company ‘puts profits before people’ by intentionally harming teenagers through its content and inciting anger among users.
Facebook changed its name to Meta in reference to its goal of expanding beyond social media, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday at the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference
Employees took down the curtain that was draped over the iconic ‘Like” sign outside the Silicon Valley headquarters to reveal the new branding.
Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook, left the company with tens to thousands of confidential documents she copied secretly and released to around two dozen news outlets.
On Thursday it was revealed how Facebook researchers are said to have had extensive knowledge that coronavirus and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine existed on the company’s apps, yet did little to combat it let alone share the information with the White House.
Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, presented documents that show multiple studies were conducted and produced a variety of numbers detailing the types users most likely to share fake information.
Lawmakers, academics, as well as the White House, urged Facebook not to publish such information.
Facebook employees also knew that misinformation about coronavirus was dominating certain parts of the social media platform, creating ‘echo chamber-like effects’ ultimately reinforcing hesitancy regarding the vaccine.
It includes a new logo depicting a blue infinity symbol and refers to the ‘metaverse’, the company’s new focus to expand beyond its social media apps
Haugen presented findings on the dangers that social media has caused young people before Congress on Monday October 5, and British Parliament on Monday. One revealed that 13.5% of British teenagers and 6% of American teenagers experiencing suicidal thoughts said that they traced them to Instagram.
A March 2020 message posted to an internal message board and revealed in Haugen’s documents, stated that 32% said Instagram made them feel worse for their bodies if they already had insecurities.
Another recent claim against the company is that Instagram bombards women and girls who suffer from eating disorders with images and videos of exceedingly thin females and others afflicted with anorexia.
Internal documents showed that Instagram’s algorithm curates options on the basis of searches and preferences made by users interested in dieting, weight loss and thinness.
This year, Instagram researchers conducted an experiment where they typed #skinny into their search terms and were then offered the chance to browse other accounts featuring dangerously thin women and girls.
Another core finding in the leaked documents was that Facebook staff have reported for years that they are concerned about the company’s failure to police hate speech and that its algorithms flooded users with extremist content and conspiracy theories based on their political beliefs.
Staff at the social media giant revealed that they were responsible for the January 6 Capitol Riot after giving extremist content a platform.
“One of our darkest days in the history and practice of democracy and self-governance.” One worker said, “History will not judge us kindly,” while another said, “We’ve been fueling that fire for a long period and we shouldn’t be surprised it’s now out of control.”
Leaked documents from Haugen reveal that Facebook may have misled the US Securities and Exchange Commission, failing to disclose its declining popularity among young users.
It is believed to have failed to explain how many of its users are people who have more than one account on its websites. This could mean that the actual number of users could be as low as 11%, compared to what its figures would suggest.
According to Bloomberg reporting, one trend is that U.S. teens spent less time on Facebook in 2020 than 2021. Young adults between 18 and 29 were also spending less time on Facebook.
Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, testified before British lawmakers Monday about her concerns about the tech giant’s dominance in the telecomms and tech space. She claimed, among others, that Facebook misleads people by claiming it helps non English-speaking companies with its tech, when in fact it fuels extremism
Meta reported its highest quarterly profits Monday, despite the avalanche in damaging whistleblower claims that surfaced at the start this week.
According to the company, its net income increased 17% to $9.19 Billion in the July-September period due to strong advertising revenue. This is an increase of profits of $7.85 million a year prior.
Meta stock rose more then 1% Tuesday after-hours trading, rose by more 3% Thursday afternoon, before falling to 1.5% by 5pm. Analyst expectations were exceeded as third quarter revenue increased 35% to $29.01 Billion.
The company’s name change includes a new logo depicting a blue infinity symbol and refers to the ‘metaverse’, its new focus to expand beyond its social media apps.
The term “metaverse” can be used to refer to digital spaces that are more lifelike through the use of virtual reality and augmented reality.
He said that “our mission remains the same, it is still about bringing people closer together.” He added, “Now, we have a new North Star that will help bring the metaverse back to life.”
He explained that the word “beyond” in Greek means “beyond” and that it symbolizes that there is always more to be built and a new chapter in the story.
‘I believe the metaverse is the next chapter of the Internet and it’s the next chapter of our company too,’ he said, adding, ‘While most etch companies focus on how people could connect to technology, we focus on building technology so people could connect with each other.’
Zuckerberg has suggested previously that the metaverse is the future for the company. He has been talking about the metaverse since July.
The company has invested heavily into virtual reality and augmented realities, developing hardware such Oculus VR headsets, and working on AR glasses as well as wristband technologies.