Facebook Inc has rebranded as Meta, focusing on the creation of the 'metaverse' , a shared virtual world that the company believes will be the replacement to the mobile internet.

The name change comes as the world's largest social media company under laws and regulations scrutiny over its market power, algorithmic judgments, and policing of abuses on its platforms.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the new name reflected the company's work investing in the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media site, which will continue to be called Facebook, during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference.

The term ‘metaverse’ was invented three decades ago in the dystopian novel 'Snow Crash', and it is now generating buzz in Silicon Valley. It refers to the concept of a shared virtual reality that may be accessed via a variety of devices.

“Right now, our brand is so closely associated with one product that it can't reasonably represent everything we're doing today, let alone in the future”, Zuckerberg remarked.

The company, which has made significant investments in augmented and virtual reality, claims that the transition would unify its various apps and technology under one unified brand. It stated that its corporate structure would not be altered.

The tech giant, which has 2.9 billion monthly users, has been under increased scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators around the world in recent years.

In the most recent controversy, former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen disclosed information that she claimed indicated the business prioritized profit over user safety. In recent weeks, Haugen has testified before a Senate subcommittee in the US and parliamentarians in the UK's Parliament. The records, according to Zuckerberg, are being exploited to construct a ‘false picture’.

Facebook announced this week that its hardware subsidiary, Facebook Reality Labs, which is in charge of AR and VR activities, will become a separate reporting unit, and that the company's investment in it will cut its total operating profit by nearly $10 billion this year.

This year, the company established a metaverse-focused product team under this unit, and it recently revealed ambitions to hire 10,000 people in Europe over the next five years to work on the project.