Meta problems: Beyond Facebook

Facebook has problems. Meta ones, which is to say, problems beyond problems.

In Greek, “meta” means beyond. When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the teenaged social media giant would undergo a corporate rebrand — to Meta — it seemed like a parent willing his child to go beyond the mess they’ve made of their life. Go change your name, hope for a do-over. second chances happen. So one might imagine Mr Zuckerberg counselling his 17-year-old baby.

Facebook, of course, faces a slew of public relations crises. And it’s being blamed for being too www. Too worldwide. Too much the sum and substance of the web. Too free. Too unfree. Too heavy-handed. Not heavy-handed enough. Too much of a good thing. Too much of a bad thing. Too much of everything. Just. Too. Much.

It’s all very different from the situation in 2010, when Facebook was the hottest new thing on the tech bloc, a trendsetter, a force for good. TIME magazine put Mr Zuckerberg on its cover and dubbed him “The Connector”. Just…