Meta Platforms is the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp after adopting a new name in 2021.
Facebook, Inc. announced its corporate rebrand to Meta Platforms, Inc. on October 28, 2021. The Facebook social network kept its name, while the new corporate identity emphasized the company’s interest in building immersive digital environments and other future-facing technologies.
Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, making it one of the world’s most important social-media businesses. Its main revenue source has historically been digital advertising, while Reality Labs develops virtual- and augmented-reality hardware and software.
The change is often described incorrectly as Facebook changing its app name to Meta. That is not what happened: the parent company changed names, but Facebook remained a product. Meta Platforms’ market capitalization therefore represents a portfolio of major platforms rather than one social network alone.