AOC mocks Facebook over rebrand announcement: ‘That’ll fix it’

Company’s planned rebrand was widely pilloried as it faces criticism over rampant misinformation

New York Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined in the widespread mockery of Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday after it was revealed that the company was planning to change its name as part of a rebranding effort.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, was widely praised for her tough line of questioning for Facebook CEO’s in 2019 when she pressed Mr Zuckerberg on whether advertisements with demonstrably false statements about politicians were acceptable on his platform.

On Wednesday, she retweeted an exclusive from The Verge revealing Facebook’s plans to rebrand and change the company’s name, quipping: “That’ll fix it.”

That’ll fix it 🙄 https://t.co/ICZBK2TJSu

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 20, 2021

Facebook found itself in the crosshairs of the US Congress once again this month after a former employee came forward and accused the company of promoting divisiveness and hiding research from investors about the extent of the company’s success with removing misinformation and hateful speech from the platform. The company has strongly denied those claims in repeated media interviews and statements, while also attacking journalists digging further into the company.

The former employee, Frances Haugen, testified before a Senate subcommittee earlier this month. where she accused Facebook of “intentionally hid[ing] vital information from the public, from the US government, and from governments around the world”.

Mr Zuckerberg fired back in his own blog post, while not saying whether he would accept the subcommittee’s request for him to testify on Capitol Hill.

"At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being,” argued Mr Zuckerberg, who added "That's just not true.”