Facebook’s Plans of Metaverse and Closure of Novi Wallet

Ever since the ex-Facebook employee blew the whistle on Facebook’s misinformation practices, the past few months have been a difficult time for the company’s image. Furthermore, the media has been closely monitoring and reporting the Facebook scandal to the point where Zuckerberg and the broader executive team at Facebook has to look into making wide-sweeping changes to the company’s model. This change came yesterday in the form of corporate rebranding, which is one of the ways that firms seek to reevaluate their goals and priorities as an organization. It is safe to say that the rebranding of the parent company to now be called “Meta” was definitely a surprise, but the way in which it was shaped in the media’s light was quite ingenious – Zuckerberg stated to the media that the change to Meta was necessary because “the existing brand could not possibly represent everything that we are doing today, let alone in the future.” This is an interesting claim by the Facebook CEO because everything that is being covered in the media right now regarding what Facebook has in the pipeline is in regards to virtual reality. However, the lesser-known side of Facebook’s R&D capabilities within the AI realm is Novi – Facebook’s cryptocurrency wallet program that is currently being piloted. Unfortunately, due to the negative press that Facebook has been experiencing over the past couple of weeks as news of its involvement in misinformation campaigns further develops, 5 senators within Congress have called for the immediate closure of the cryptocurrency wallet. At present, this threat has not further materialized, but it is quite likely that given the direction that recent cryptocurrency legislation has taken, Facebook may have to begin to off-pilot Novi.