Top Meta executive said the company's name change was a success because it beat out coverage of the 'Facebook Papers' revelations

• Meta's move away from its former Facebook name came amid new wave of controversy for the company.
• Mark Zuckerberg called it "ridiculous" to connect a new name to ongoing "Facebook Papers" coverage.
• Yet, executive Chris Cox did just that when asked by an employee about the success of the new name.

When Facebook first revealed it was renaming itself Meta in October 2021, the company said it was about nothing more than a new desire to be "metaverse first." It didn't take long for a top executive to revel in the new name elbowing out bad press.