Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has mocked Mark Zuckerberg's plan to turn Facebook into a 'metaverse,' agreeing with a tweet calling it a 'dystopian corporate dictatorship.'
Facebook wants the 'metaverse' to be a future version of the internet, where users use virtual reality and augmented reality devices to enter virtual worlds.
Dorsey retweeted a post from a user called udiverse21, referencing author Neal Stephenson, who first coined the term 'metaverse' in 1992.
The tweet read: 'the word “metaverse” was coined by neal stephenson in the book “snowcrash” and it originally described a virtual world owned by corporations where end users were treated as citizens in a dystopian corporate dictatorship. What if neal was right.'
As Dorsey retweeted the post, he added: 'NARRATOR: He was.'
The 'metaverse' concept is one Facebook appears to be betting its future on, including hiring 10,000 EU staff to develop the shared worlds and technology.
Reports also suggest Facebook is planning to change the company name, while keeping the individual brands like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Facebook has been heavily mocked for this rebranding, with users joking 'why don't they call it wokebook,' and suggesting it is a move by Facebook to distance itself from a series of embarrassing scandals.
Zuckerberg (pictured in an Oculus VR headset) thinks Facebook will transition from 'primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company' over the next five years
Dorsey retweeted a post from a user called udiverse21, saying 'NARRATOR He was,' referencing author Neal Stephenson, who first coined the term 'metaverse' in 1992
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has mocked Mark Zuckerberg's plan to turn Facebook into a 'metaverse,' agreeing with a Tweet calling it a 'dystopian corporate dictatorship'
The rebrand would see the creation of a parent company, overseeing Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and others, similar to the moves Google took in launching Alphabet to oversee its brands, including YouTube and Nest.
The firm's original, flagship social media site and app - Facebook - is expected to keep its moniker, but Facebook Inc., the parent company will get a new name.
Users took to social media to poke fun at the tech giant, which has faced a string of scandals in recent months and has seen its reputation severely bruised.
One commentator called the plan 'the old rebrand trick', in reference to other companies that have changed their names to avoid scrutiny, while others suggested new names for the company, with 'Fakebook' and 'Wokebook' being popular choices.
Facebook already has a substantial share of the social media and virtual reality market, through Instagram, WhatsApp and the Oculus VR headsets.
Creating a new name for the parent company could shield future products, such as the metaverse, from scandals linked to the brand Facebook.
Recently the company has made moves into the corporate market, through Facebook Workplace and a more business orientated version of the its Portal device.
In the Zuckerberg-inspired future, someone could put on a virtual reality headset and meet with a friend or colleague who is working in another part of the planet.
The idea is it would allow people to feel as if they're face-to-face despite being thousands of miles apart.
Building this sort of virtual world isn't a small task, even if it builds on existing technology and brand recognition.
Insiders say this is why the firm is hiring 10,000 plus staff.
The tech giant said the new roles will include 'highly specialised engineers' but did not reveal any more detail about its plans for the new metaverse team.
Dorsey isn't the first to criticise Zuckerberg for his vision of a metaverse.
Ben Sizer, a software engineer from Nottingham, tweeted earlier this week: 'Facebook is a company that has roughly 15,000 moderators who are mostly underpaid outsourcers.
'Yet they announce they will be hiring 10,000 'highly specialised' engineers to create 'the metaverse'. It's all about their priorities, not their capabilities.'
Facebook's Horizon allows users to host boardroom-style get-togethers with cartoon avatars of their colleagues (pictured) and is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's ambition to turn Facebook into a futuristic 'metaverse'
User udiverse21 suggested a darker motive, tweeting: 'Facebook's insistence on launching a cryptocurrency + becoming a 'metaverse' means one thing. Zuckerberg had enough of running a company. He wants to run a country'
Another Twitter user wrote: 'Facebook seems to find the money and time for their 'metaverse' project but when it comes to tackling hate speech and misinformation on their platform, they really couldn't be bothered.'
Cybersecurity expert Jake Moore told MailOnline: 'Facebook's business model is seemingly far from the social media platform it once was with its core function focusing on making money rather than connecting people.'
He added that there is 'no doubt the metaverse will make serious amounts of money', but that the current Facebook platform 'clearly needs attention' to tackle the ease with which online abuse and misinformation can spread.
In his novel 'Snow Crash,' Stephenson described a virtual world owned by corporations, in which 'end users were treated as citizens in a dystopian corporate dictatorship,' according to the post by udiverse21 that Dorsey shared
Facebook has announced plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union to develop a so-called metaverse, a virtual reality version of the internet where people can game, work and communicate. Pictured is the company's virtual reality app Horizon Workrooms
