Soon after Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is rebranding itself as “Meta” in an effort to move past being a scandal-plagued social network to its virtual reality vision for the future, social media, especially Twitter was flooded with jokes, memes and jibes on the name change. "Meta" was the most-searched keyword on Google and the top trending hashtag on Twiter.
“FAANG is now MANGA,” tweeted Steph Sher, referring to FAANG, an acronym for American tech companies Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (formerly known as Google).
FAANG is now MANGA pic.twitter.com/Ick508wGXJ— Steph Sher (@stephxsher) October 28, 2021
Many Twitter users termed "Meta" as an acronym which stands of "Mark Evading True Accountability".
META: Mark Evading True AccountabilityRelated stories
— Rick Horowitz (@Rick_Horowitz) October 28, 2021
Hey, @ParikPatelCFA, have you already told Facebook the correct spelling is Mehta?— Jason Zweig (@jasonzweigwsj) October 28, 2021
Taking a sharp jibe at the social media giant, Democratic politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has in the past grilled Mark Zuckerberg during a hearing in the US House of Representatives over Facebook’s policies, termed Facebook a “cancer to democracy”.
Though Meta will just be the name of the parent company, and the app will still be called Facebook, some observers were concerned.
"How can you tell anyone that you're on Meta. Sounds like a drug," wrote @careaware.
How can you tell anyone that you're on Meta. Sounds like a drug.— Francine Polsky Jewett (@careaware) October 28, 2021
“Meta as in ‘we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!’” the 32-year-old tweeted.
Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!” https://t.co/jzOcCFaWkJ— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 28, 2021
US hamburger chain Wendy's tweeting shortly after the news of Facebook’s name change: "Changing name to Meat."
Remaining true to its word, the chain did just that - but only on its Twitter profile. And video gaming brand Xbox replied on an equally witty note: "Nice to meat you."
Nice to meat you.— Xbox (@Xbox) October 29, 2021
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - which are used by billions around the world - will keep their names under the rebranding critics have called an effort to distract from the platform's dysfunction.
Here are more memes on Facebook's name change to Meta:
Back in my day we called it Facebook, not Meta. pic.twitter.com/9rvv0yeTkn— In My Mind (@MeAloneInMyMind) October 28, 2021
How to solve a business problem:
Simply change the name #Meta pic.twitter.com/BfJGGPI2ZS— adeen (@ade_af_) October 28, 2021
if addicted #Facebook #meta pic.twitter.com/QJ3sHFlzeA— Nani (@follownaamu) October 28, 2021
Err your welcome?#META pic.twitter.com/GtApWjscNZ— Deep Longstop (@deeplongstop) October 29, 2021
Mark Zuckerberg trying fixing Facebook:#Meta pic.twitter.com/Doqjk2EBKK— Awais Siddiqui (@IAwaisSiddiqui) October 28, 2021
Facebook has been battling one of its most serious crises ever since former employee Frances Haugen leaked reams of internal studies showing executives knew of their sites' potential for harm, prompting a renewed US push for regulation.
