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Facebook announces name change to Meta in rebranding effort

Facebook announces name change to Meta in rebranding effort
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.”
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.
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”.
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.
News
Suspected Boko Haram kill two vigilantes, 10 firewood fetchers in Borno

Two vigilantes and ten firewood fetchers in Bokko Ghide community, Gwoza local government area of Borno state have been killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
Alhaji Mohammed Shehu Timta, the Emir of Gwoza, confirmed the incident, explaining that the vigilantes (Civilian JTF) were ambushed and killed by the assailants along Kirawa road under Pulka District.
He also explained that the 10 other victims were those who went into the bush in search of firewood.
The Emir stated that they (firewood fetches) went to a nearby bush in search of firewood on Saturday when the boys (insurgents) ambushed them and killed ten and left 2 with life threatening injuries.
He said that they buried the 10 and evacuated the injured victims to Maiduguri for medical attention.
According to him, “It’s very sad that two of my Civilian JTF members, who sacrificed their lives for my people, were also killed on Friday.”
He prayed to God to reward their sacrifices and grant them Janatul Firdaus, and give their family and the community the fortitude to bear the loss.
While commending the state government and the military for their relentless effort in dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency, he added that they have been doing their best in managing the crisis for over a decade.
He, however, wants the military to deploy technological warfare like drones and other sophisticated weapons to end the crisis.
The Emir observed that the rainy season is about to set in and the people are now scared to visit their farmlands.
The attacks came barely 48 hours after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sent the Minister of Defense, Badaru Abubakar, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, and other top military commanders to assess the security situation in Borno State.
The Minister of Defence, had assured that the Federal Government would provide more military support to deal with the security challenges in Borno and the northeast
News
Father and son allegedly poisoned to death in Ebonyi

A middle-aged man, popularly known as Uncle Light, and his son, Miracle, were allegedly poisoned to death in Ebonyi State.
The incident happened at Ebebe Junction in Abakaliki on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
It was gathered that the victims were living with a woman who reportedly moved in with the man after divorcing her husband earlier this year.
The woman is suspected of having poisoned the food they ate
Police operatives arrived at the compound with a man who identified himself as the brother of the woman in question.
He told police that his sister was ill and currently in custody.
Another resident, who also pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to talk.
“I heard a loud voice in the middle of the night and I told my wife that something was happening in our neighbourhood. At a point, we thought it was noise from church people doing their programme. It was early in the morning that we saw the son struggling and writhing in pain and came outside the gate,” the source said.
“He was crying for water. A friend provided him with water before he suddenly d!ed. We are suspecting diarrhoea, but it’s for an autopsy to confirm what k!lled him.”
The bodies have been evacuated by the police. (Punch)
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‘We are with you’- Oyebanji assures Ekiti people after heavy rainstorm

The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has sympathised with the people of the state over the havoc wreaked by rainstorm in some parts of the state on Saturday.
The storm affected many private and public buildings as well as facilities across the state. However, no life was lost.
Moved by the development, the Governor has directed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to immediately commence an assessment of properties that were affected with a view to assisting the victims.
While assuring the people of the state that they would not be left alone at this critical period, Governor Oyebanji urges the people of the state to remain calm and go about their daily activities without any fear, while Government takes inventory of the damaged properties and facilities with a view to responding appropriately.
“We are in it together”, the Governor assures the people in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Yinka Oyebode, and made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday evening.
“The Biodun Oyebanji administration is committed to the welfare and wellbeing of the people of the state and will not leave any stone unturned in providing timely succor to the victims of the rainstorm”, the statement added.
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