Facebook changes it name to "Meta" as part of major rebrand

Facebook changed its company name to Meta as part of a major rebrand. The company said it would better "embrace" what it does as it expands its reach across social media and areas such as virtual reality (VR).

The change does not apply to its platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, only the parent company that owns it.

The move is taken after a series of negative stories about Facebook spread, based on documents revealed by an ex-employee. Frances Haugen accused the company of putting "profit over security".

In 2015, Google restructured its company, which calls its parent company Alphabet, but the name of search engine remained same.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg declared the new name as he unveiled plans to build a "metaverse" - an online world where people can play, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often with VR headsets."

He stated the existing brand does not "possibly represent everything we do today, alone in the future", and needs to change.

"Over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse society and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we build," he said at a virtual conference.

“We now look at and report our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms.

"And as part of that, it's time for us to adopt a new company brand to include everything we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build."

The company also unveiled a new sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California on Thursday, replacing its thumb-up "Like" logo with a blue infinity shape.

Mr Zuckerberg said the new name reflects the fact that over time users will not need Facebook to use the company's other services.