Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis waded into the hubbub around Facebook changing its corporate name to ‘Meta’, accusing Mark Zuckerberg of “borrowing” the new title from the moniker of an anti-capitalist think tank.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Varoufakis told the Facebook founder to keep his “hands off our mέta” – referring to the Athens-based ‘Centre for Postcapitalist Civilisation’. The non-profit research center lists the Greek MP on an advisory board that includes scholar Noam Chomsky, musician Brian Eno, filmmaker Ken Loach, economist James K. Galbraith, and philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
Established in 2020, the think tank’s mission statement says it works through “art and research, argument, and poetry” to “break with a dystopic present” by aiding “radical progressive movements.”
“You, and your minions, wouldn’t recognize civilization even if it hit you with a bargepole,” tweeted Varoufakis, who added separately that the big tech firm helps create the current dystopian reality.
Hands off our mέta, our Centre for Postcapitalist Civilisation https://t.co/t9aIR0ahSC, Mr Zuckerberg. You, and your minions wouldn’t recognise civilisation even if it hit you with a bargepole pic.twitter.com/aleOplqo12
Varoufakis also accused Zuckerberg of having previously “borrowed” the name of his Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM) movement to rebrand his cryptocurrency. Facebook’s under-development cryptocurrency was originally named ‘libra’ but renamed as ‘diem’ last year.
Zuckerberg just ‘borrowed’ our mέta (https://t.co/2FzQ18HAf4) to re-brand Facebook. Earlier he had ‘borrowed’ our movement’s name, DiEM (https://t.co/j60auSCE9H) to rebrand his cryptocurrency Libra. What next? [At least our radical agenda for expropriating tech-lords is safe!]
Zuckerberg announced his ambitious plans for the creation of a virtual “metaverse” last week amid a spate of negative press coverage linked to whistleblower Frances Haugen’s allegation that the Silicon Valley giant prioritizes “profit over people.” He renamed the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as ‘Meta’ effective immediately.
The rebranding elicited both support and ridicule on social media, including from several influential figures and even popular fast food chain Wendy’s. It also spawned a variety of memes – at least one of which played on the new title to suggest another less obscure Greek connection for the name: the famous ‘Feta’ cheese.
While some social media users dismissed Varoufakis’ claims as “narcissistic” and “delusions of grandeur,” many commenters appeared to agree that the similarities between the two instances of renaming looked “almost like it was on purpose.”
In response to Varoufakis’ tweets, another Greek organization Metabook – which described itself as the “largest marketplace of used books” in the country – claimed that its name was one of those that Facebook had “shortlisted.” It added that while the tech giant “finally cut the ‘book’ part,” it “kept our logo.” Both logos feature a variation of the infinity loop symbol.
Most, however, said that claiming “ownership” or having some sort of “trademark” over a word that is part of the common parlance today was “stupid” — while others were sure that the renaming was simply part of a plan to “divert” some of the bad press away from the company.
Like Alphabet, it’s probably designed to divert some of the bad rep that the main trademark would otherwise get. Currently, everything is “Facebook this, Facebook that”. Now it will be “Meta this, Facebook that”.
Împotriva articolelor redacției noastre, persoanele nemulțumite pot formula Contestație în termen de 10 zile de la publicarea articolului, la judecătoria Orășenească nr. 1 München Bayern Deutschland, in conformitate cu Legea federală Germană. Considerăm că nu se pot formula acțiuni la instanțele din România deoarece nici o persoană care activează în trustul nostru nu poate fi extrasă de sub jurisdicția federală germană. Considerăm că redacția noastră nu răspunde în fața autorităților din România ci doar celor federale sau civile germane. deoarece legea română nu are efecte de extraneitate asupra redacției chiar dacă subiectul știrilor face obiectul unor evenimente sau persoane din România și sunt scrise în limba română. Limba română nu este izvor de extraneitate a legii.
absolvent WEB DESIGN Academia Britanică de Comunicare Iasi - absolvent COMUNICARE IN AFACERI Academia Britanica de Afaceri si Comunicare -absolvent JURNALISM EDITORIAL - London School University - 2019 inscris la echivalare diploma la Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara - absolvent studii de Drept Universitatea Europeană Drăgan, cursuri in Drept la Universitatea de Vest Timisoara, absolvent studii de proiectare, pastor coordonator in Biserica Protestanta Evanghelica,
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