By Sheila Dang and Supantha Mukherjee

Renaming Facebook Inc (NASDAQ) will not allow the tech titan to avoid regulatory and public scrutiny about the potential harms caused to its social media applications, branding and marketing experts said to Reuters.

The Verge reports that the California-based tech magazine plans to update its corporate branding. It is now owned by the social media platform that has made it an international household name. However, it also contains other businesses like Oculus and WhatsApp.

However, the company did not respond to a request for comment about the report regarding possible rebranding. This story was not covered by the company.

After leaking thousands of documents, a whistleblower revealed that Facebook contributed to increased online polarization when it changed its content algorithm. It also failed to make steps to decrease vaccine hesitancy and knew that Instagram was causing mental problems in teenage girls.

An earlier hearing by the U.S. Senate was held to examine Instagram’s impact on young people.

James Cordwell (an internet analyst for Atlantic Equities) stated that “Legislators are smart enough to not be fooled if there is a rebranding.”

Marisa Mulvihill from Prophet, a marketing and branding consultancy, stated that renaming could be an effective strategy for allowing subsidiary brands to keep their reputations. However, regulators and media will not stop looking into or making reforms because of a rebranded brand.

The Facebook parent company’s new name may reflect the social media giant’s current focus on creating the’metaverse’, according to The Verge. It refers to an imagined digital world that allows people to use various devices to interact and move in virtual environments.

Experts said it could prevent negative sentiments about Facebook from impacting WhatsApp (the messaging app that is used by almost 2 billion people worldwide) and Oculus (its virtual reality brand).

Mulvihill reported that Facebook’s “precipitously decreased” brand relevancy to U.S. users over the last several years according to Prophet’s annual ranking.

Deborah Stafford-Watson (head of strategy, Elmwood brand consulting firm) said that you do not want this to spread and cause a negative effect in other areas of your business.

Others have made similar moves at large companies. Google, the internet search giant best known for its web searches, reorganized in 2015. Alphabet (NASDAQ) was created to hold Google’s shares.

Philip Morris, the cigarette manufacturer (NYSE:), rebranded as Altria in 2003. This was at the time that Kraft Foods (NASDAQ) owned it. Later, it spun off its food division.

Mulvihill stated that although the Altria rebrand didn’t eliminate the tobacco connotations from the cigarettes brands, the change did reduce Kraft’s negative effects.

The experts predicted that Facebook would continue to face similar pressures, even after it rebrands.

Natasha Jen is a Pentagram partner, which does design and communications work. She said, “I don’t believe it’s going to help Facebook minimize regulators’ scrutiny or the general public’s skepticism. You must earn trust.