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The new symbol and name change were nods to Mr. Zuckerberg\u2019s plans to refocus the Silicon Valley giant toward what he sees as the unification of disparate digital worlds into the so-called metaverse<\/a>, the immersive, interconnected online space largely enabled by augmented and virtual reality. \u201cThe metaverse is the next frontier in connecting people,\u201d he said in an announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To design experts, the change by a scandal-plagued company was the latest example of efforts by corporate America to create brands that are less unique and ultimately less offensive. It was also a reflection of the growing challenge for corporate identities to exist in many different sizes and digital settings at once, from V.R. headsets to smartwatches \u2014 a challenge that is magnified for Meta as it tries to establish an identity for something that largely doesn\u2019t exist yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt checks a lot of boxes,\u201d said Michael Evamy, the author of \u201cLogo,\u201d an anthology of corporate brands and logos. \u201cIt\u2019s very simple. It\u2019s very visible at all scales. It\u2019s blue.\u201d (Blue, he noted, is historically a color associated with safety and trustworthiness. The infinity symbol, devoid of corners and jagged edges, can be seen as nonthreatening.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut in a way it kind of looks exactly like you\u2019d expect,\u201d Mr. Evamy added. \u201cKind of underwhelming and risk-averse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Users and lawmakers worldwide are increasingly scrutinizing the wide reach of Facebook, whose products \u2014 including Instagram and WhatsApp \u2014 are used by more than 3.6 billion people every month<\/a>. Even as Facebook grew to become one of the most valuable companies in the world, it spent the last several years moving from one embarrassing scandal to the next. Most recently, a former employee turned whistle-blower released a vast trove of internal documents<\/a>, arguing that Mr. Zuckerberg and Facebook routinely placed profit over the well-being of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zuckerberg said last month that the name change was a reflection of how much Facebook had evolved. \u201cRight now our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can\u2019t possibly represent everything we\u2019re doing today, let alone in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facebook has long been associated with its lowercase \u201cf\u201d logo \u2014 a simple mark but one that became globally recognizable as Facebook grew. The company\u2019s other apps also have bold and colorful logos, which are staying as part of the rebranding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Mr. Zuckerberg\u2019s future vision rests on virtual reality, the company wanted a new logo that felt more dynamic and immersive. In March, the company began developing a logo by focusing \u201csolely on exploring concepts with motion, dimensionality and perspective,\u201d Zach Stubenvoll, Sam Halle and Marian Chiao,members of its internal design team, saidin an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When using a V.R. headset, people often use a controller to draw boundary lines of their virtual experience. Meta\u2019s designers said the color loop in the new logo that eventually twists into the infinity symbol was inspired by those boundary lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The design community\u2019s response to Facebook\u2019s change has been largely muted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis symbol just doesn\u2019t get you excited about the metaverse,\u201d Mr. Evamy said. \u201cThe opportunity they\u2019ve missed is to produce something really exciting and transformative in its own way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many other brands have very similar infinity-symbol logos, including those of web development software sold by Microsoft, a model of Top Flite golf balls, a wealth management firm and the rock band Hoobastank. A service owned by Meta called Boomerang also uses an infinity symbol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Infinity symbols have been featured in many logos, from small businesses to large, well-known corporations, including Boomerang, Microsoft Visual Studio, Infinity, Alpha Infinity, Infinity Enterprises and EV Connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A tech giant in trouble. <\/strong>The leak of internal documents by a former Facebook employee has provided an intimate look<\/a> at the operations of the secretive social media company and renewed calls for better regulations of the company\u2019s wide reach into the lives of its users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it began. <\/strong>In September, The Wall Street Journal published The Facebook Files, a series of reports based on leaked documents<\/a>. The series exposed evidence that Facebook, which on Oct. 28 assumed the corporate name of Meta, knew Instagram, one of its products was worsening body-image issues among teenagers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The whistle-blower. <\/strong>During an interview with \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that aired Oct. 3, Frances Haugen, a Facebook product manager <\/a>who left the company in May, revealed that she was responsible for the leak of those internal documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Haugen\u2019s testimony in Congress. <\/strong>On Oct. 5, Ms. Haugen testified before a Senate subcommittee<\/a>, saying that Facebook was willing to use hateful and harmful content<\/a> on its site to keep users coming back. Facebook executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, called her accusations untrue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Facebook Papers. <\/strong>Ms. Haugen also filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided the documents to Congress in redacted form. A congressional staff member then supplied the documents, known as the Facebook Papers<\/a>, to several news organizations, including The New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New revelations. <\/strong>Documents from the Facebook Papers show the degree to which Facebook knew of extremist groups on its site<\/a> trying to polarize American voters before the election. They also reveal that internal researchers had repeatedly determined how Facebook\u2019s key features<\/a> amplified toxic content on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/11\/09\/business\/00meta-logo-grid-2\/00meta-logo-grid-2-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?auto=webp&quality=90\"){kind=logo}
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nUnderstand the Facebook Papers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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