Meta Platforms is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Facebook, Inc. changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms, Inc. in October 2021. The rebrand emphasized the company’s interest in building the metaverse, while Facebook remained the name of one of its major social-network products.
Meta’s family of apps gives it a vast global user base and makes it one of the world’s largest technology companies by market capitalization. Its main business has historically depended on digital advertising, which uses activity across services such as Facebook and Instagram to sell targeted ad placements.
The corporate name is often confused with the product name Facebook. Facebook is an app and platform; Meta Platforms is the publicly traded parent corporation. WhatsApp and Instagram are also products owned by Meta, not separate parent companies in the market-cap rankings.