Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the 56th Munich Security Conference, 15 February 2020. (Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
And luckily for the Facebook CEO, the meta.com URL currently redirects to meta.org, the website of a biomedical research discovery tool that’s controlled by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization run by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.By using the name meta for his new company, Zuckerberg would be much more likely to succeed in claiming outright control of the term “metaverse” in the future.The Verge report suggested the rebrand could also be linked to Horizon, the virtual reality platform the company has been developing in recent years.
Other suggestions on social media include a rebranding as simply FB or, less likely, the return of “the Facebook,” which was the platform’s original name.
But for all Zuckerberg’s attempts to avoid facing real scrutiny for the multiple failures of his platform, the New York Times reported Wednesday morning that the CEO’s name would be attached to a lawsuit being brought by the attorney general of the District of Columbia, Karl Racine.The lawsuit relates to a complaint filed in 2018 that alleges Facebook misled users about privacy by allowing Cambridge Analytica to hoover up the personal information of 87 million users—including more than half the District’s residents.The move would, for the first time, expose Zuckerberg himself to possible financial and other penalties.