Meta Platforms changed its corporate name from Facebook to Meta Platforms in 2021.
Facebook, Inc. announced the change at its Connect conference on October 28, 2021. The new name reflected the company’s effort to build and promote the metaverse, while Facebook remained the name of its social-networking service.
Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Its business is primarily based on digital advertising, making it one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded technology companies by market capitalization.
A common mix-up is treating Facebook and Meta as identical names. Facebook is a product and social network; Meta Platforms is the parent corporation. The company’s stock ticker remained META after the rebranding.