Which company owns the social media platform Facebook? The answer is Meta.
Facebook is owned and operated by Meta Platforms, Inc., the technology company formerly known as Facebook, Inc. The corporate name changed to Meta in October 2021, reflecting the company’s stated interest in building the metaverse and expanding beyond its original social-networking identity.
Facebook began in 2004 as a service created by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students. It initially served Harvard students, then expanded to other universities and eventually opened registration more broadly. The Facebook platform remained a major Meta product after the corporate rebrand; Meta did not rename the social network itself.
Readers sometimes confuse Meta with Alphabet because both are major technology companies. Alphabet owns Google, while Meta’s family of products includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads. Snap and Twitter are separate companies, not owners of Facebook.