Facebook is renaming WhatsApp and Instagram

WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram

Being such globally recognized names, you would think that a rebranding of WhatsApp and Instagram would be a crazy exercise... but that's precisely what Facebook is doing.

In a move that is more than a little surprising -- and, many would argue, somewhat pointless -- the social networking giant is to rename the two products Instagram from Facebook and WhatsApp from Facebook. The renaming will make it clear that the company people love to hate is behind the chat and social networking tools.

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The impending changes were first revealed by the Information, citing employees who has been informed about them, and this has since been confirmed by Facebook itself. The company says: "We want to be clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook".

Facebook has owned Instagram since 2012, and WhatsApp since 2014, but even after so many years it is not something that all users are aware of -- Facebook hardly shouts about its ownership within the confines of the two products.

Employees working for Instagram and WhatsApp were recently informed of the impending changes, and one reason that has been given for the decision is that Facebook would like to be recognized for all of the services it offers. Internally, however, the rebrandings are said to have been met with "surprise and confusion".

It is not clear whether tacking "from Facebook" to the end of Instagram's and WhatsApp's names is in any way related to the privacy and antitrust investigations Facebook is facing -- along with calls for the company to be broken up -- but there is certainly speculation that there could be a link.

Image credit: AlexandraPopova / Shutterstock

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