Facebook looks set to give its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram a rebrand.
The two platforms will be renamed “WhatsApp from Facebook” and “Instagram from Facebook”, according to reports from The Information.
And while the change is nothing too major, it does put the Facebook brand front and centre across its network.
A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider the change is because “we want to be clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook”.
Facebook acquired messaging platform WhatsApp in 2014 and photosharing site Instagram in 2015.
Prior to the news of the rebrand, Facebook global CMO Antonio Lucio discussed the need for the company to present a more unified front, explaining “we need need to create that corporate persona that owns the responsibility part of the narrative”, at a conference in Sydney last week.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also flagged his desire to create more functional interoperability between the different platforms, allowing users to send messages from WhatsApp to Facebook Messenger for example.
“I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever,” Zuckerberg said.
However, the proposed rebrand suggests Facebook is doubling-down on its unified front, as calls to unwind the mergers grow louder.
In the US, presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has tabled new rules that would force Facebook to spin-off Instagram and WhatsApp to dilute the company’s monopoly.
The FTC is also said to be investigating these mergers over antitrust concerns.
Locally, the ACCC recently recommend Australia makes changes to merger law in response to Facebook and Google’s market dominance.
