When recording artist Prince got into a contract dispute with his record label, Warner Brothers, he literally changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and was thereafter referred to as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.

Which brings us to The Platform Currently Known As Facebook, which will soon be a name to forget, with a nod to those readers among you for whom that ship sailed long ago, name change or not.

 

Facebook, which is currently being attacked seemingly on all fronts, announced that it, too, will be undergoing a name change – to one that will not only be more inclusive of its many platforms, including Instagram, Whatsapp, Oculus, etc., and will also help to revamp its image although, again, that ship might have sailed long ago. CNBC decided that A Facebook name change could be a great idea — or a terrible one. Just look at Google, Apple and more. (Google did morph into Alphabet, but CNBC neglected to report that the company’s original name was Backrub. Bit of industry trivia for you.)  Wired noted that Facebook Can’t Hide Its Problems Behind a New Name. “…branding experts—and branding amateurs on Twitter—aren’t convinced that renaming the company will do much to correct reputational problems or distance itself from recent scandals.”

According the The Verge, the name change is all about the metaverse, as Mark Zuckerberg wants to be known for building the metaverse. Dear Mark, we’ve seen what happened to the internet – surveillance, censorship et al – due in no small part to your various agendas and dubious contributions. Given all the problems Facebook is facing at present, we do respectfully request that re the metaverse, please sit this one out…

 

While Prince did change record labels, no one knew him by any name other than Prince, and nor will Facebook’s coming name change fool anyone. For those of us playing the home version, let’s catalog just a few of the company’s latest woes:

First, there’s former Facebook employee and so-called whistleblower Frances Haugen, which we covered recently.

Now a New whistleblower claims Facebook allowed hate, illegal activity to go unchecked Latest complaint to the SEC blames top leadership for failing to warn investors about serious problems at the company

Mark Zuckerberg named as defendant in Facebook privacy suit.

Given the above, one name we’d suggest, since Facebook really is all about Mark Zuckerberg and the buck always stops at the top: FaceBookHim.

 

Let’s also not forget the multiple articles covering Facebook’s various ‘missteps,’ including the Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files, which catalogued, among other things, the company’s weak response to flagged drug cartels and human traffickers; its knowledge that Instagram is toxic to many teen girls; that it has a bifurcated rules system that exempts its hand-selected so-called elites from being flagged or deplatformed. And much more.

The company put its planned Instagram for kids on hold after a growing and well-deserved backlash, including from no less than 45 Attorney Generals.

And let’s not forget that the platform relentless tracks/surveils people, even if they’re not Facebook users or the user is not currently on the platform

 

Given both given this latter information, and knowing about the CIA’s early investment into Facebook via its venture arm, In-Q-Tel and the fact that former NSA employee Sean Parker was the company’s first president, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Suggested New Name for Facebook: ‘Central Intelligence Corporation.’

Many of the tech cabal leaders/founders may have been more lucky than they were smart or even clever. In the case of Dorsey’s suggested name, it does lead us to believe that some of these founders were either not quite the sharpest tools in the shed, or simply tools.

 

In honor of Halloween and just spelling it out and naming this platform and its many properties for what they  truly is, we leave you with our humble suggestion:

FaceSpook.

Onwards and forward