Facebook has had a rough couple of weeks, and now the social media giant is reportedly looking to rebrand itself within the month.
The Verge reports that Facebook could unveil the coming name change ahead of the company’s annual Connect conference on Oct. 28. The rebranding, according to the report, would put Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other products under one new larger umbrella. That would be similar to what Google did when it restructured under Alphabet.
The rebranding comes as Facebook has faced a host of criticism in recent weeks. Frances Haugen, a former product manager turned whistleblower, shared a number of documents with the Wall Street Journal that outlined, among other things, that Facebook knew about the mental health effects Instagram had on teenagers.
Haugen then testified before a Senate committee earlier this month, further putting a spotlight on the company. Right before the testimony, Facebook and Instagram experienced a major outage and the company announced it was “pausing” its plans to launch an Instagram for Kids following the backlash from the Wall Street Journal reports.
But the news of the impending rebrand led many online to suggest one name you might be familiar with: “The Facebook.”
If you recall, Facebook was originally called “The Facebook” before eventually changing.
Many users had other suggestions like “Personal Data Collection Inc,” “Data Acquired Inc,” “Hot Disinformation Or Not Disinformation,” and even “#FaceyMcBookface.”
Others decided that “FakeBook” would be an appropriate name.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes suggested the company go back even further and really go back to the “Facemash” origins of the company: “Take it back to the roots and rebrand as Hot or Not.”
You can read all of the Verge report about the upcoming Facebook rebranding here.
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