According to CNBC, Facebook’s name has been changed to Meta. Ever since this new revelation, the world has learned the corporate world of social media reality
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has a dangerous goal. He is trying to play god by controlling major sources of communication which in turn private data. Similar to his portrayal in the movie “The Social Network,” Zuckerberg is focused on profits rather than people. Perhaps, a new CEO would boost the company’s current reputation rather than a branding shift. Nonetheless, Facebook will surely continue to exist after the scandal ends.
The company changed its name after an incident on Oct. 25, when former employee Frances Haugen released confidential documents exposing Facebook’s unethical operations to the public and the Security Exchange Commission, according to The New York Times,. The company has got in trouble with both the court of law and the court of public opinions over privacy and public safety issues.
It is common sense, especially in the 21stst century, that companies should hold themselves accountable against unethical business practices. With a large corporation like Facebook, it is no surprise that everyone was appalled by this news. They need to work on being beneficial not only to their shareholders with profits and dividends but provide some sort of compensation to stakeholders too in the form of high-quality services.
The new name appears to be a tactic of crisis control, regarding the insane amounts of negative media coverage over the past three weeks following the incident. Accidentally, their original plan of entering the metaverse seems to work in their favor. They are entering the metaverse industry in hopes to scale up their businesses. Facebook will not be focusing on social media and entertainment. They will move into the future disruptive industry such as metaverse, according to CNBC.
It would be best if Facebook focused all of its resources on ensuring users have ethical privacy and free speech—instead of finding more resources for its expansion plan. Because Facebook has popular products in its control, including WhatsApp and Instagram, it has the power to make a difference in today’s society. It can stop posts that harm society with false facts and accusations.
“[Facebook] went a little too far on the revenue side and not enough on the judgment side,” said former Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
I believe this incident calls for written and enforced restrictions and regulations for private companies that operate social media platforms. While it is important that private companies have control over what they are doing internally, the government and law officials should check if these companies use their data for the goodness of their stakeholders and not overlook public safety.
The unfortunate side of this whole ordeal is that its stocks climbed up after being down for a few weeks.
“The company reported mostly strong quarterly earnings on Monday, even though this is the first report after Apple introduced privacy changes in April that could have severely limited Facebook’s ad business,” said Shirin Ghaffary, as reported by Vox. “And despite all the reports about the potential social harms of its products, Facebook’s share prices are on the rise.”
Investors are willing to overlook Facebook’s failure to be ethical to its customers. At the end of the day, many people still believe in Facebook potential despite the new revelation.
