Facebook’s ‘Meta’ rebrand means ‘dead’ in Hebrew, Israelis don’t care about the name
The name in question, in Hebrew, is the conjugation of the feminine form for “dead” in the present and past tense, leading many social media users who speak the language to ridicule the rebranding, leading the hashtag “#FacebookDead” .
Israel’s Zaka Emergency Rescue Unit, whose job it is to collect human remains to ensure proper burials, shared their take on the rebranding last week, tweeting: “Don’t worry, here we are. #FacebookDead “in Hebrew.
– (@zakaHQ) 28 October 2021
Other Twitter users had shared their take on the name change, with one writing that “she wanted to open a Facebook account, but said the website was dead now.”
Another user said “someone hasn’t done their research on branding and translation.”
In Hebrew, * Meta * means * Death *
The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come.– Nirit Weiss-Blatt, PhD (@DrTechlash) 28 October 2021
The social media company announced the name change at a press conference Thursday, where Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the new name seeks to start building the “metaverse,” which is described as a shared virtual environment that hopes to be the next big computing platform. .
The official Twitter account, while not relevant to the Hebrew language, also jokingly responded to the name change, stating: “BIG NEWS lol jk still Twitter.”
BIG NEWS lol jk always twitter
– Twitter (@Twitter) 28 October 2021
Zuckerberg, who was raised as a Reform Jew, didn’t react to the ridicule online.
This isn’t the only recent controversial news the social media conglomerate has found itself in, as recent reports have confirmed that Facebook has failed to control abusive content, hate speech, inflammatory rhetoric and disinformation on its platform. The company reportedly hired workers who had the skills and language skills required to detect objectionable messages from users around the world.
Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook’s annual F8 Developer Conference in San Jose, Calif. (Credit: STEPHEN LAM / REUTERS)
Reuters contributed to this report.
