🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 99 (from laksa192)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa099.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta","crawl_time":1775664310,"first_indexed_time":1635445965,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,theguardian!www,\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta s443","src_root_hash":"4161074618625082499","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Facebook announces name change to Meta in rebranding effort | Meta | The Guardian","meta_descriptions":["Holding company will encompass Facebook as well as its apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and the virtual reality brand Oculus"],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Facebook CEO\nMark Zuckerberg\nannounced the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta, in a rebrand that comes as the company faces a series of public relations crises.\nZuckerberg revealed the new name at Facebook’s annual AR\/VR conference on Thursday, where he outlined the company’s virtual-reality vision for the future.\nThe CEO sketched his plans to build the “metaverse” – a digital world built over our own, comprising virtual reality headsets and augmented reality. “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.”\nFacebook gives a glimpse of metaverse, its planned virtual reality world – video\nSporting a blue infinity symbol as a logo, the new holding company Meta\nwill encompass\nFacebook, its largest subsidiary, as well as apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus.\nIn recent earnings reports, the company announced its virtual reality segment had grown so substantially it would now report its revenue separately, dividing its products into two categories.\nThose categories include a “family of apps” including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and the “reality labs” products including AR and VR as well as any related hardware.\nZuckerberg on Thursday said he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart.\nFacebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming.\nPhotograph: Meta\nThe platform would allow users to customize their avatars and digital spaces, decorating a digital office with pictures, videos and even books. The presentation imagined users inviting friends over virtually, two people attending a concert together despite being across the world from one another, and colleagues making work presentations remotely.\n“When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window,” he said.\nYet he admitted the company has a long way to go. “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” Zuckerberg added, though “it doesn’t fully exist yet”.\nFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October.\nPhotograph: Eric Risberg\/AP\nStill, Zuckerberg said, Facebook rolled out two of its metaverse projects in beta last year: Horizon World, which allows users to invite friends over into their digital world, and\nHorizon Workrooms\n, which does the same in professional settings. He also said Facebook plans to further explore NFTs and crypto to help facilitate media that can be represented digitally, and is working on gaming applications.\nZuckerberg said the company would continue to offer services and hardwire to developers at low cost or for free, in an attempt to attract a critical mass of people to the platform. The company has also dedicated $150m to developers to create new apps, games and immersive programs in the metaverse.\n“We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less not more,” he said.\nFacebook’s rebranding effort is not\nunprecedented\nin the tech space – Google in 2015 restructured into a new holding company, placing subsidiaries including its namesake search engine, YouTube and its self-driving car firm Waymo under a new umbrella firm called Alphabet.\nBut Facebook’s announcement comes amid deep\nregulatory and PR challenges. Those include a series of recent reports based on\ndocuments leaked\nby the whistleblower\nFrances Haugen\nthat exposed toxic business practices and internal knowledge of its longterm negative public health impact.\nThe revelations from the “Facebook papers” are just the latest struggle for the embattled company, which has in recent years been\nserved with a lawsuit\nfrom the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was the subject of numerous congressional hearings, and in 2019 was fined $5bn by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 for “deceiving” users.\nCritics of the platform contended on Thursday that the metaverse project is a distraction from the company’s PR crisis, and that the company risks making the same mistakes as it has in the past.\n“The fact that Zuckerberg has set his sights firmly on the so-called ‘metaverse’ while societies all over the world are scrambling to alleviate the myriad harms caused by his platforms just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.\nIn her recent testimony, Haugen said she was “shocked” to hear how much the company was investing in the metaverse while its safety efforts failed. The company has dedicated $10bn in 2021 to the metaverse while its safety division received $5bn in funding.\n“To echo Frances Haugen’s words, just imagine what Facebook could achieve if it devoted even a fraction of its metaverse investment on proper content moderation to enforce even the most basic standards of truth, decency and progress,” Ahmed said.\nOthers warned Facebook’s metaverse launch could mean a new space in which the company has a monopoly, amid ongoing antitrust concerns.\nZuckerberg on Thursday tried to get ahead of such privacy and security concerns. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs, acknowledged that the company has faced criticism for not envisioning the long-term impacts of its problems.\n“We have years until the metaverse as we envision it is fully realized. This is the beginning of the journey,” Clegg said.","attrs_markdown":"![](https:\/\/sb.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=6035250&cv=2.0&cj=1&cs_ucfr=0&comscorekw=technology)\n\n[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#maincontent)[Skip to navigation](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#navigation)\n\nClose dialogue\n\n1\/2\n\nNext image\n\nPrevious image\n\nToggle caption\n\n[Skip to navigation](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#navigation)\n\n[Print subscriptions](https:\/\/support.theguardian.com\/subscribe?REFPVID=mnq8on1zuf31cjcb69ev&INTCMP=undefined&acquisitionData=%7B%22source%22%3A%22GUARDIAN_WEB%22%2C%22componentId%22%3A%22PrintSubscriptionsHeaderLink%22%2C%22componentType%22%3A%22ACQUISITIONS_HEADER%22%2C%22referrerPageviewId%22%3A%22mnq8on1zuf31cjcb69ev%22%2C%22referrerUrl%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2021%2Foct%2F28%2Ffacebook-name-change-rebrand-meta%22%7D)\n\n[Search jobs](https:\/\/jobs.theguardian.com\/)\n\n[Sign in](https:\/\/profile.theguardian.com\/signin?INTCMP=DOTCOM_NEWHEADER_SIGNIN&ABCMP=ab-sign-in&componentEventParams=componentType%3Didentityauthentication%26componentId%3Dguardian_signin_header)\n\nUK\n\n- [UK edition](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/preference\/edition\/uk)\n- [US edition](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/preference\/edition\/us)\n- [Australia edition](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/preference\/edition\/au)\n- [Europe edition](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/preference\/edition\/eur)\n- [International edition](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/preference\/edition\/int)\n\n[The Guardian - 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He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart.\n\n![Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming.](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/84e08164652c0e60faed6877727ed84ef6f5335b\/40_0_1800_1080\/master\/1800.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)\n\n[View image in fullscreen](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#img-1)\n\nFacebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming. Photograph: Meta\n\nThe platform would allow users to customize their avatars and digital spaces, decorating a digital office with pictures, videos and even books. The presentation imagined users inviting friends over virtually, two people attending a concert together despite being across the world from one another, and colleagues making work presentations remotely.\n\n“When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window,” he said.\n\nYet he admitted the company has a long way to go. “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” Zuckerberg added, though “it doesn’t fully exist yet”.\n\n![Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October.](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/87b6874861280657ecd281b02814970a84ab78cb\/0_200_6000_3600\/master\/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)\n\n[View image in fullscreen](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#img-2)\n\nFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October. Photograph: Eric Risberg\/AP\n\nStill, Zuckerberg said, Facebook rolled out two of its metaverse projects in beta last year: Horizon World, which allows users to invite friends over into their digital world, and [Horizon Workrooms](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/aug\/19\/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-vaccine-disinformation), which does the same in professional settings. He also said Facebook plans to further explore NFTs and crypto to help facilitate media that can be represented digitally, and is working on gaming applications.\n\nZuckerberg said the company would continue to offer services and hardwire to developers at low cost or for free, in an attempt to attract a critical mass of people to the platform. The company has also dedicated \\$150m to developers to create new apps, games and immersive programs in the metaverse.\n\n“We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less not more,” he said.\n\nFacebook’s rebranding effort is not [unprecedented](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2015\/aug\/10\/google-alphabet-parent-company) in the tech space – Google in 2015 restructured into a new holding company, placing subsidiaries including its namesake search engine, YouTube and its self-driving car firm Waymo under a new umbrella firm called Alphabet.\n\nBut Facebook’s announcement comes amid deepregulatory and PR challenges. Those include a series of recent reports based on [documents leaked](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/25\/facebook-revelations-from-misinformation-to-mental-health) by the whistleblower [Frances Haugen](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/24\/frances-haugen-i-never-wanted-to-be-a-whistleblower-but-lives-were-in-danger) that exposed toxic business practices and internal knowledge of its longterm negative public health impact.\n\nThe revelations from the “Facebook papers” are just the latest struggle for the embattled company, which has in recent years been [served with a lawsuit](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/aug\/19\/facebook-antitrust-case-ftc-monopoly) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was the subject of numerous congressional hearings, and in 2019 was fined \\$5bn by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 for “deceiving” users.\n\nCritics of the platform contended on Thursday that the metaverse project is a distraction from the company’s PR crisis, and that the company risks making the same mistakes as it has in the past.\n\n“The fact that Zuckerberg has set his sights firmly on the so-called ‘metaverse’ while societies all over the world are scrambling to alleviate the myriad harms caused by his platforms just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.\n\nIn her recent testimony, Haugen said she was “shocked” to hear how much the company was investing in the metaverse while its safety efforts failed. The company has dedicated \\$10bn in 2021 to the metaverse while its safety division received \\$5bn in funding.\n\n“To echo Frances Haugen’s words, just imagine what Facebook could achieve if it devoted even a fraction of its metaverse investment on proper content moderation to enforce even the most basic standards of truth, decency and progress,” Ahmed said.\n\nOthers warned Facebook’s metaverse launch could mean a new space in which the company has a monopoly, amid ongoing antitrust concerns.\n\nZuckerberg on Thursday tried to get ahead of such privacy and security concerns. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs, acknowledged that the company has faced criticism for not envisioning the long-term impacts of its problems.\n\n“We have years until the metaverse as we envision it is fully realized. This is the beginning of the journey,” Clegg said.\n\nExplore more on these topics\n\n- [Meta](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/meta)\n- [Facebook](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/facebook)\n- [Mark Zuckerberg](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/mark-zuckerberg)\n- [Social media](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/social-media)\n- [Social networking](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/socialnetworking)\n- [news](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/news)\n\nShare\n\n[Reuse this content](https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2021%2Foct%2F28%2Ffacebook-name-change-rebrand-meta&type=article&internalpagecode=technology\/2021\/oct\/28\/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta \"Reuse this content\")\n\n### Most viewed\n- [![](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/dde7752014fb9546901ea95a5f59347fc7391cf8\/129_0_3806_3045\/master\/3806.jpg?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) LiveMiddle East crisis live: Trump says Lebanon is ‘separate skirmish’ to Iran as Israel launches massive strikes on country](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/live\/2026\/apr\/08\/iran-war-ceasefire-live-updates-trump-deadline-middle-east-crisis-latest-news)\n- [![](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/8151cf58126791cb5a47fd5f11b857d3e23bf127\/0_70_1284_1027\/master\/1284.jpg?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) ‘His last gift’: father dies saving two of his children from drowning off Florida coast](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/08\/father-dies-saves-drowning-children-florida-beach)\n- [![](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d17ea2e02a83b66cfcadc7aaeff074612bbd0f11\/1105_0_6103_4882\/master\/6103.jpg?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) Trump needs to go. If we can’t use the 25th amendment, I have another ideaArwa Mahdawi](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2026\/apr\/07\/trump-needs-to-go-we-cant-use-25th-amendment-idea)\n- [![](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d3ea2ff0db8396da2182706f69b98cab660d88af\/0_0_3543_2834\/master\/3543.jpg?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) Rebecca Hendin on Artemis II and Donald Trump – cartoon](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/picture\/2026\/apr\/08\/rebecca-hendin-artemis-ii-donald-trump-cartoon)\n- [![](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/dbd3fea1ca85e8e1b33e94ce3fa91d625490d440\/345_0_4666_3735\/master\/4666.jpg?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) Explainer: What is in Iran’s 10-point ceasefire plan and will the US agree to it?](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/08\/iran-10-point-plan-ceasefire-donald-trump-us)\n\n## Related stories\n## Related stories\n- 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All rights reserved.\n\n(dcr)","attrs_readable_markdown":"Facebook CEO [Mark Zuckerberg](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/mark-zuckerberg) announced the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta, in a rebrand that comes as the company faces a series of public relations crises.\n\nZuckerberg revealed the new name at Facebook’s annual AR\/VR conference on Thursday, where he outlined the company’s virtual-reality vision for the future.\n\nThe CEO sketched his plans to build the “metaverse” – a digital world built over our own, comprising virtual reality headsets and augmented reality. “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.”\n\nFacebook gives a glimpse of metaverse, its planned virtual reality world – video\n\nSporting a blue infinity symbol as a logo, the new holding company Metawill encompassFacebook, its largest subsidiary, as well as apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus.\n\nIn recent earnings reports, the company announced its virtual reality segment had grown so substantially it would now report its revenue separately, dividing its products into two categories.\n\nThose categories include a “family of apps” including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and the “reality labs” products including AR and VR as well as any related hardware.\n\nZuckerberg on Thursday said he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart.\n\n![Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming.](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/84e08164652c0e60faed6877727ed84ef6f5335b\/40_0_1800_1080\/master\/1800.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)\n\nFacebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming. Photograph: Meta\n\nThe platform would allow users to customize their avatars and digital spaces, decorating a digital office with pictures, videos and even books. The presentation imagined users inviting friends over virtually, two people attending a concert together despite being across the world from one another, and colleagues making work presentations remotely.\n\n“When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window,” he said.\n\nYet he admitted the company has a long way to go. “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” Zuckerberg added, though “it doesn’t fully exist yet”.\n\n![Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October.](https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/87b6874861280657ecd281b02814970a84ab78cb\/0_200_6000_3600\/master\/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)\n\nFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October. Photograph: Eric Risberg\/AP\n\nStill, Zuckerberg said, Facebook rolled out two of its metaverse projects in beta last year: Horizon World, which allows users to invite friends over into their digital world, and [Horizon Workrooms](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/aug\/19\/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-vaccine-disinformation), which does the same in professional settings. He also said Facebook plans to further explore NFTs and crypto to help facilitate media that can be represented digitally, and is working on gaming applications.\n\nZuckerberg said the company would continue to offer services and hardwire to developers at low cost or for free, in an attempt to attract a critical mass of people to the platform. The company has also dedicated \\$150m to developers to create new apps, games and immersive programs in the metaverse.\n\n“We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less not more,” he said.\n\nFacebook’s rebranding effort is not [unprecedented](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2015\/aug\/10\/google-alphabet-parent-company) in the tech space – Google in 2015 restructured into a new holding company, placing subsidiaries including its namesake search engine, YouTube and its self-driving car firm Waymo under a new umbrella firm called Alphabet.\n\nBut Facebook’s announcement comes amid deepregulatory and PR challenges. Those include a series of recent reports based on [documents leaked](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/25\/facebook-revelations-from-misinformation-to-mental-health) by the whistleblower [Frances Haugen](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/24\/frances-haugen-i-never-wanted-to-be-a-whistleblower-but-lives-were-in-danger) that exposed toxic business practices and internal knowledge of its longterm negative public health impact.\n\nThe revelations from the “Facebook papers” are just the latest struggle for the embattled company, which has in recent years been [served with a lawsuit](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/aug\/19\/facebook-antitrust-case-ftc-monopoly) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was the subject of numerous congressional hearings, and in 2019 was fined \\$5bn by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 for “deceiving” users.\n\nCritics of the platform contended on Thursday that the metaverse project is a distraction from the company’s PR crisis, and that the company risks making the same mistakes as it has in the past.\n\n“The fact that Zuckerberg has set his sights firmly on the so-called ‘metaverse’ while societies all over the world are scrambling to alleviate the myriad harms caused by his platforms just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.\n\nIn her recent testimony, Haugen said she was “shocked” to hear how much the company was investing in the metaverse while its safety efforts failed. The company has dedicated \\$10bn in 2021 to the metaverse while its safety division received \\$5bn in funding.\n\n“To echo Frances Haugen’s words, just imagine what Facebook could achieve if it devoted even a fraction of its metaverse investment on proper content moderation to enforce even the most basic standards of truth, decency and progress,” Ahmed said.\n\nOthers warned Facebook’s metaverse launch could mean a new space in which the company has a monopoly, amid ongoing antitrust concerns.\n\nZuckerberg on Thursday tried to get ahead of such privacy and security concerns. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs, acknowledged that the company has faced criticism for not envisioning the long-term impacts of its problems.\n\n“We have years until the metaverse as we envision it is fully realized. This is the beginning of the journey,” Clegg said.","meta_canonical":null}

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URL	https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta
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First Indexed	2021-10-28 18:32:45 (4 years ago)
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Meta Title	Facebook announces name change to Meta in rebranding effort \| Meta \| The Guardian
Meta Description	Holding company will encompass Facebook as well as its apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and the virtual reality brand Oculus
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Boilerpipe Text	Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta, in a rebrand that comes as the company faces a series of public relations crises. Zuckerberg revealed the new name at Facebook’s annual AR/VR conference on Thursday, where he outlined the company’s virtual-reality vision for the future. The CEO sketched his plans to build the “metaverse” – a digital world built over our own, comprising virtual reality headsets and augmented reality. “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.” Facebook gives a glimpse of metaverse, its planned virtual reality world – video Sporting a blue infinity symbol as a logo, the new holding company Meta will encompass Facebook, its largest subsidiary, as well as apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus. In recent earnings reports, the company announced its virtual reality segment had grown so substantially it would now report its revenue separately, dividing its products into two categories. Those categories include a “family of apps” including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and the “reality labs” products including AR and VR as well as any related hardware. Zuckerberg on Thursday said he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart. Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming. Photograph: Meta The platform would allow users to customize their avatars and digital spaces, decorating a digital office with pictures, videos and even books. The presentation imagined users inviting friends over virtually, two people attending a concert together despite being across the world from one another, and colleagues making work presentations remotely. “When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window,” he said. Yet he admitted the company has a long way to go. “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” Zuckerberg added, though “it doesn’t fully exist yet”. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP Still, Zuckerberg said, Facebook rolled out two of its metaverse projects in beta last year: Horizon World, which allows users to invite friends over into their digital world, and Horizon Workrooms , which does the same in professional settings. He also said Facebook plans to further explore NFTs and crypto to help facilitate media that can be represented digitally, and is working on gaming applications. Zuckerberg said the company would continue to offer services and hardwire to developers at low cost or for free, in an attempt to attract a critical mass of people to the platform. The company has also dedicated $150m to developers to create new apps, games and immersive programs in the metaverse. “We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less not more,” he said. Facebook’s rebranding effort is not unprecedented in the tech space – Google in 2015 restructured into a new holding company, placing subsidiaries including its namesake search engine, YouTube and its self-driving car firm Waymo under a new umbrella firm called Alphabet. But Facebook’s announcement comes amid deep regulatory and PR challenges. Those include a series of recent reports based on documents leaked by the whistleblower Frances Haugen that exposed toxic business practices and internal knowledge of its longterm negative public health impact. The revelations from the “Facebook papers” are just the latest struggle for the embattled company, which has in recent years been served with a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was the subject of numerous congressional hearings, and in 2019 was fined $5bn by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 for “deceiving” users. Critics of the platform contended on Thursday that the metaverse project is a distraction from the company’s PR crisis, and that the company risks making the same mistakes as it has in the past. “The fact that Zuckerberg has set his sights firmly on the so-called ‘metaverse’ while societies all over the world are scrambling to alleviate the myriad harms caused by his platforms just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. In her recent testimony, Haugen said she was “shocked” to hear how much the company was investing in the metaverse while its safety efforts failed. The company has dedicated $10bn in 2021 to the metaverse while its safety division received $5bn in funding. “To echo Frances Haugen’s words, just imagine what Facebook could achieve if it devoted even a fraction of its metaverse investment on proper content moderation to enforce even the most basic standards of truth, decency and progress,” Ahmed said. Others warned Facebook’s metaverse launch could mean a new space in which the company has a monopoly, amid ongoing antitrust concerns. Zuckerberg on Thursday tried to get ahead of such privacy and security concerns. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs, acknowledged that the company has faced criticism for not envisioning the long-term impacts of its problems. “We have years until the metaverse as we envision it is fully realized. This is the beginning of the journey,” Clegg said.
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[Environment](https://www.theguardian.com/environment) - [UK politics](https://www.theguardian.com/politics) - [Science](https://www.theguardian.com/science) - [Tech](https://www.theguardian.com/technology) - [Global development](https://www.theguardian.com/global-development) - [Obituaries](https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries) ![Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/aab6ed1c5843aacd2b1eeafe4584729b1ba33823/0_0_1920_1080/1920.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) 1:06 Meta: Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook’s new name – video [Meta](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/meta) This article is more than 4 years old # Facebook announces name change to Meta in rebranding effort This article is more than 4 years old Holding company will encompass Facebook as well as its apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and the virtual reality brand Oculus [Kari Paul](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kari-paul) in San Francisco Thu 28 Oct 2021 21.06 BST First published on Thu 28 Oct 2021 19.20 BST Share [Prefer the Guardian on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=theguardian.com) Facebook CEO [Mark Zuckerberg](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/mark-zuckerberg) announced the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta, in a rebrand that comes as the company faces a series of public relations crises. Zuckerberg revealed the new name at Facebook’s annual AR/VR conference on Thursday, where he outlined the company’s virtual-reality vision for the future. The CEO sketched his plans to build the “metaverse” – a digital world built over our own, comprising virtual reality headsets and augmented reality. “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.” ![Facebook gives a glimpse of metaverse, its planned virtual reality world – video](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d12e077885b95675475e55ca37e8fa7cf9420df4/0_0_3500_1970/3500.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) 2:17 Facebook gives a glimpse of metaverse, its planned virtual reality world – video Sporting a blue infinity symbol as a logo, the new holding company Metawill encompassFacebook, its largest subsidiary, as well as apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus. [![Facebook’s Dublin HQ](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3ad7c9f835aaaf0e91a22d4a4e9e3685a78937c6/0_257_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=b51cf2c5c6e1425216c2539f31beee65)Facebook to create 10,000 jobs in EU to help build ‘metaverse’ Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/18/facebook-jobs-eu-metaverse-social-network) In recent earnings reports, the company announced its virtual reality segment had grown so substantially it would now report its revenue separately, dividing its products into two categories. Those categories include a “family of apps” including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and the “reality labs” products including AR and VR as well as any related hardware. Zuckerberg on Thursday said he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart. ![Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/84e08164652c0e60faed6877727ed84ef6f5335b/40_0_1800_1080/master/1800.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) [View image in fullscreen](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#img-1) Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming. Photograph: Meta The platform would allow users to customize their avatars and digital spaces, decorating a digital office with pictures, videos and even books. The presentation imagined users inviting friends over virtually, two people attending a concert together despite being across the world from one another, and colleagues making work presentations remotely. “When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window,” he said. Yet he admitted the company has a long way to go. “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” Zuckerberg added, though “it doesn’t fully exist yet”. ![Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/87b6874861280657ecd281b02814970a84ab78cb/0_200_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) [View image in fullscreen](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/facebook-name-change-rebrand-meta#img-2) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP Still, Zuckerberg said, Facebook rolled out two of its metaverse projects in beta last year: Horizon World, which allows users to invite friends over into their digital world, and [Horizon Workrooms](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/19/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-vaccine-disinformation), which does the same in professional settings. He also said Facebook plans to further explore NFTs and crypto to help facilitate media that can be represented digitally, and is working on gaming applications. Zuckerberg said the company would continue to offer services and hardwire to developers at low cost or for free, in an attempt to attract a critical mass of people to the platform. The company has also dedicated \$150m to developers to create new apps, games and immersive programs in the metaverse. “We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less not more,” he said. Facebook’s rebranding effort is not [unprecedented](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/10/google-alphabet-parent-company) in the tech space – Google in 2015 restructured into a new holding company, placing subsidiaries including its namesake search engine, YouTube and its self-driving car firm Waymo under a new umbrella firm called Alphabet. But Facebook’s announcement comes amid deepregulatory and PR challenges. Those include a series of recent reports based on [documents leaked](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/25/facebook-revelations-from-misinformation-to-mental-health) by the whistleblower [Frances Haugen](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/24/frances-haugen-i-never-wanted-to-be-a-whistleblower-but-lives-were-in-danger) that exposed toxic business practices and internal knowledge of its longterm negative public health impact. The revelations from the “Facebook papers” are just the latest struggle for the embattled company, which has in recent years been [served with a lawsuit](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/19/facebook-antitrust-case-ftc-monopoly) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was the subject of numerous congressional hearings, and in 2019 was fined \$5bn by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 for “deceiving” users. Critics of the platform contended on Thursday that the metaverse project is a distraction from the company’s PR crisis, and that the company risks making the same mistakes as it has in the past. “The fact that Zuckerberg has set his sights firmly on the so-called ‘metaverse’ while societies all over the world are scrambling to alleviate the myriad harms caused by his platforms just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. In her recent testimony, Haugen said she was “shocked” to hear how much the company was investing in the metaverse while its safety efforts failed. The company has dedicated \$10bn in 2021 to the metaverse while its safety division received \$5bn in funding. “To echo Frances Haugen’s words, just imagine what Facebook could achieve if it devoted even a fraction of its metaverse investment on proper content moderation to enforce even the most basic standards of truth, decency and progress,” Ahmed said. Others warned Facebook’s metaverse launch could mean a new space in which the company has a monopoly, amid ongoing antitrust concerns. Zuckerberg on Thursday tried to get ahead of such privacy and security concerns. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs, acknowledged that the company has faced criticism for not envisioning the long-term impacts of its problems. “We have years until the metaverse as we envision it is fully realized. This is the beginning of the journey,” Clegg said. 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Readable Markdown	Facebook CEO [Mark Zuckerberg](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/mark-zuckerberg) announced the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta, in a rebrand that comes as the company faces a series of public relations crises. Zuckerberg revealed the new name at Facebook’s annual AR/VR conference on Thursday, where he outlined the company’s virtual-reality vision for the future. The CEO sketched his plans to build the “metaverse” – a digital world built over our own, comprising virtual reality headsets and augmented reality. “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.” Facebook gives a glimpse of metaverse, its planned virtual reality world – video Sporting a blue infinity symbol as a logo, the new holding company Metawill encompassFacebook, its largest subsidiary, as well as apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus. In recent earnings reports, the company announced its virtual reality segment had grown so substantially it would now report its revenue separately, dividing its products into two categories. Those categories include a “family of apps” including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, and the “reality labs” products including AR and VR as well as any related hardware. Zuckerberg on Thursday said he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade. He described futuristic plans to create a digital world, in which users will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” despite being far apart. ![Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/84e08164652c0e60faed6877727ed84ef6f5335b/40_0_1800_1080/master/1800.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) Facebook’s vision for Metaverse gaming. Photograph: Meta The platform would allow users to customize their avatars and digital spaces, decorating a digital office with pictures, videos and even books. The presentation imagined users inviting friends over virtually, two people attending a concert together despite being across the world from one another, and colleagues making work presentations remotely. “When I send my parents a video with my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re right in the moment with us not peering through a little window,” he said. Yet he admitted the company has a long way to go. “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself,” Zuckerberg added, though “it doesn’t fully exist yet”. ![Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/87b6874861280657ecd281b02814970a84ab78cb/0_200_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on 28 October. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP Still, Zuckerberg said, Facebook rolled out two of its metaverse projects in beta last year: Horizon World, which allows users to invite friends over into their digital world, and [Horizon Workrooms](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/19/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-vaccine-disinformation), which does the same in professional settings. He also said Facebook plans to further explore NFTs and crypto to help facilitate media that can be represented digitally, and is working on gaming applications. Zuckerberg said the company would continue to offer services and hardwire to developers at low cost or for free, in an attempt to attract a critical mass of people to the platform. The company has also dedicated \$150m to developers to create new apps, games and immersive programs in the metaverse. “We want to serve as many people as possible, which means working to make our services cost less not more,” he said. Facebook’s rebranding effort is not [unprecedented](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/10/google-alphabet-parent-company) in the tech space – Google in 2015 restructured into a new holding company, placing subsidiaries including its namesake search engine, YouTube and its self-driving car firm Waymo under a new umbrella firm called Alphabet. But Facebook’s announcement comes amid deepregulatory and PR challenges. Those include a series of recent reports based on [documents leaked](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/25/facebook-revelations-from-misinformation-to-mental-health) by the whistleblower [Frances Haugen](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/24/frances-haugen-i-never-wanted-to-be-a-whistleblower-but-lives-were-in-danger) that exposed toxic business practices and internal knowledge of its longterm negative public health impact. The revelations from the “Facebook papers” are just the latest struggle for the embattled company, which has in recent years been [served with a lawsuit](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/19/facebook-antitrust-case-ftc-monopoly) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was the subject of numerous congressional hearings, and in 2019 was fined \$5bn by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 for “deceiving” users. Critics of the platform contended on Thursday that the metaverse project is a distraction from the company’s PR crisis, and that the company risks making the same mistakes as it has in the past. “The fact that Zuckerberg has set his sights firmly on the so-called ‘metaverse’ while societies all over the world are scrambling to alleviate the myriad harms caused by his platforms just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. In her recent testimony, Haugen said she was “shocked” to hear how much the company was investing in the metaverse while its safety efforts failed. The company has dedicated \$10bn in 2021 to the metaverse while its safety division received \$5bn in funding. “To echo Frances Haugen’s words, just imagine what Facebook could achieve if it devoted even a fraction of its metaverse investment on proper content moderation to enforce even the most basic standards of truth, decency and progress,” Ahmed said. Others warned Facebook’s metaverse launch could mean a new space in which the company has a monopoly, amid ongoing antitrust concerns. Zuckerberg on Thursday tried to get ahead of such privacy and security concerns. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice-president of global affairs, acknowledged that the company has faced criticism for not envisioning the long-term impacts of its problems. “We have years until the metaverse as we envision it is fully realized. This is the beginning of the journey,” Clegg said.
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