Whistleblower blasts Facebook’s Meta rebrand

Whistleblower Frances Haugen issued a stinging rebuke of Fb’s “Meta” rebrand on Monday, accusing the corporate of but once more prioritising growth over folks’s security.

The previous Fb engineer, who leaked a trove of inside paperwork which have sparked weeks of criticism of the social media big, additionally referred to as on its chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to step down.

“Again and again Fb chooses growth in new areas over sticking the touchdown on what they’ve already carried out,” she advised an viewers of tens of 1000’s within the Portuguese capital.

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Fb final month introduced that it’ll rent 10,000 new employees in Europe over the following 5 years in its bid to construct the metaverse, which might use digital actuality to make on-line experiences — like chatting to a pal, or attending a live performance — really feel face-to-face.

Critics have derided the rebrand as an tried distraction from the avalanche of damaging revelations from Haugen’s leaked paperwork.

Haugen has accused Fb of ignoring issues raised by its personal staff within the pursuit of revenue.

Requested if Zuckerberg ought to step down, she stated: “I feel Fb could be stronger with somebody who’s keen to concentrate on security, so sure.”

Haugen has testified earlier than US and UK lawmakers in latest weeks, however the Net Summit — which she formally opened, with an explosion of confetti raining down from the ceiling — marked her first look earlier than a wider public.

Fb vice chairman Nick Clegg, who is because of deal with the Net Summit on Tuesday, will seemingly reject Haugen’s suggestion that the metaverse venture equates to a mass funding in “video video games”.

However Silicon Valley lovers imagine the metaverse may characterize the following nice leap within the evolution of the web, finally blurring the digital world seamlessly with the bodily one, making a wealth of latest financial alternatives.

“I feel among the dialogue will probably be, ‘how a lot of it’s hype and the way a lot of it’s actual?’” Net Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave advised AFP.

Organisers have hailed the truth that host nation Portugal enjoys one of many world’s highest vaccination charges.

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