Quick bit: According to recent reports, tech giant Facebook plans to change its name, partly it seems to distance itself from recent controversies — but experts and the leftist tech press are skeptical that the company can launch with a fresh start.

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Wired magazine reports in an article titled “Facebook Can’t Hide Its Problems Behind a New Name,” that despite Facebook’sreported plans to rebrand in the coming weeks, the company still has a number of issues it must address. Breitbart News recently reported that according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation, Facebook plans to completely rebrand the company next week. The social media giant reportedly plans to change its company name to focus on its development of the “metaverse” online world.

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Former Facebook worker Frances Haugen flashes a tight smile

Wired reports on why Facebook may want to change its name, writing:

But what’s in a name? In Facebook’s case, it comes with strong associations, some reputational damage, scrutiny from Congress, and disapproval from the general public. The Facebook name has led to a “trust deficit” in some of its recent endeavors, including its expansion into cryptocurrency. By renaming the parent company, Facebook might give itself a chance to overcome that. It wouldn’t be the first corporate behemoth to seek some goodwill with a new moniker: Cable companies do it all the time.

Still, branding experts–and branding amateurs on Twitter–aren’t convinced that renaming the company will do much to correct reputational problems or distance itself from recent scandals.

“Everyone knows what Facebook is,” says Jim Heininger, founder of Rebranding Experts, a firm that focuses solely on rebranding organizations. “The most effective way for Facebook to address the challenges that have tainted its brand recently is through corrective actions, not trying to change its name or installing a new brand architecture.”

Facebook has dealt with a number of scandals in recent weeks based on the “Facebook Files” series from the Wall Street Journal which made a number of damning claims about the tech giant based on a series of internal company documents. Shortly afterward, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen came forward as the source of these documents and testified about the company before Congress. Amidst all of this, Facebook then suffered its longest outage in yearswith all services going offline for over six hours.

Some of the name rumored to replace Facebook are “Meta,” suggesting a focus on the company’s metaverse online world, or “Horizon.”