Journalists roast Facebook's 'Meta' rebranding: 'A virtual reality where Mark Zuckerberg has a black friend'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced that his company would be rebranding as "Meta" and would have more focus on virtual reality in which people could connect more directly in a simulated digital space.

In a video released to demonstrate the concept, a virtual Zuckerberg walks onto a simulation of a space station in which he plays cards with some of his friends, who also appear as cartoon avatars.

Many journalists were not impressed, however, as they believe it's just as likely that the toxic experiences that have consumed Facebook for years would soon come to infect the company's giant virtual reality platform.

"If you hate 'Facebook,' you'll love 'Meta,' an immersive, unceasing universe of Facebook," wrote the New York Times' Amanda Hess.

Elaborating on this, journalist Justin Ling predicted that Meta would come to consist of getting "accosted by a group of neo-Nazi anti-vaxxers in the metaverse."

The Columbia Journalism Review's Mathew Ingram, meanwhile, predicted that the execution of Meta would face the same pitfalls that befell virtual reality platform Second Life.

"I assume Facebook -- er, Meta -- has already licensed the code from Second Life that tried to stop people from using giant penises as their virtual avatars," he wrote.

Freelance writer Neri Zilber took issue with the video demonstration of Meta and said that he was "recovering from food poisoning and this is just what my fever dreams were like."

Other journalists simply took the Meta announcement as an opportunity to post jokes at Mark Zuckerberg's expense.

"They had to spend billions to create a virtual reality where Mark Zuckerberg has a black friend," wrote Nation columnist Jeet Heer.

"I never thought I'd be physically pained with embarrassment for a billionaire, but here we are," wrote Discourse Blog's Rafi Schwartz.