Meta Platforms was called Facebook before its corporate rebrand in 2021.
The company changed its name to Meta Platforms on October 28, 2021, while keeping Facebook as the name of its flagship social-networking service. The new corporate name signaled a strategic focus on the metaverse, virtual reality, augmented reality, and other future computing platforms.
This distinction matters because Facebook describes both the original social network and, historically, the corporation that owned several major apps. After the rebrand, Meta became the parent-company name, while Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger remained product brands.
Meta's market value is connected to its enormous advertising business and the scale of its social applications. Reality Labs, the division associated with virtual and augmented reality, represents a longer-term investment rather than the company's original source of revenue.