Which company operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp under its corporate umbrella?

Meta Platforms operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp under its corporate umbrella.

Meta Platforms changed its corporate name from Facebook, Inc. in October 2021. The rebranding distinguished the parent company from Facebook, the social-networking service, and highlighted its long-term interest in building what it calls the metaverse.

The company was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students in 2004. Facebook expanded through major acquisitions, including Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. Those services became part of Meta’s family of applications and helped make the company one of the world’s largest digital advertising businesses.

Meta is sometimes confused with the owner of TikTok, which is ByteDance. It is also different from Alphabet, whose major consumer platforms include Google and YouTube. Market capitalization rankings for these companies fluctuate as their share prices move.