Facebook’s Mendelsohn on Name Change, Metaverse Project

Facebook Global Business Group VP Nicola Mendelsohn joins Emily Chang to discuss the social media giant’s future and metaverse project under the new name Meta, advertising opportunities in the metaverse, the impact of Apple’s privacy changes on its business, and the recent wave of negative news reports based on the documents collected by former product manager-turned whistle-blower Frances Haugen.
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Just a few hours ago you were company just a few hours ago you
worked at a company called Facebook. Now it is mad at you are

even changing the stock ticker and even Google didn’t do that.
Given that the vast majority of the company today doesn’t work

on the metaverse at all why take this risk.
Well first we don’t see it as a risk and we’re just coming off a

company all hands. And the excitement at the company is very
real and metal really captures where a company’s going and also

the future that we want to build. But our mission hasn’t
changed. Metis Focus is all around building the metaverse but

continuing to let people connect to find communities to grow.
Businesses in the way that they have with the Facebook family of

apps over the almost 20 years that we’ve been going. And it
really reflects and also solves the confusion that I think there

has been out there caused by a company named sharing the same
name as well as our biggest app. And as I said you know Facebook

started as a single app and now we’re a whole family of apps and
services with Instagram and WhatsApp and so many others. And

matter actually brings together all of these apps all of these
technologies under one new brand new company brand.

Give us some color on what the Horizon marketplace looks like.
Is it going to work like an app store. Will there be a

subscription model. How will people make money in this new
world. Oh lots of questions. So her first off with Horizon. Well

that’s the social platform that we’re going to be building for
people to create and interact in the metaverse. So with Horizon

Worlds well that’s where you can build worlds and you can jump
into them with your friends with your family with your

colleagues and to discover new places that you might want to go
meet together in or play games in or get to know different

members of your community with different avatars that you might
have. An horizon home is really our early vision for the home

space in the Metaverse and Horizon work rooms which is already
up and running. Is that the collaboration. And you know I was

just in the meeting last week and that feeling that you when
you’re sat around a virtual table and especially in this world

today where we’re all working in a much more hybrid way it’s
very different just from having a one on one straight into the

screen like you and I are doing now. You actually feel like
you’re sat around the table. You do turn left. You do time

right. Depending on where the audio is coming from. So it’s a
very different audience. It’s an enhanced if you like social

experience. But what if the metaverse and A.R. and VR don’t make
the world more social at all make us more disconnected more

antisocial and replicates so many of the criticisms that face
Facebook today.

Well that’s not the case from the experiences that I’ve already
been enjoying and already having it in you know when I’ve been

into the when I’m playing games or actually when I’m meeting and
hanging out with people. So I’ve been to the moon. That’s

probably the first person that you’ve had on is saying I’ve been
to the moon with my colleagues and we took with our avatars.

Virtual SD against the backdrop of the sun and backdrops of it.
But I think also at the heart of your question also as well is

this making sure that we’re addressing and building responsibly
for the metaphors. And I think there’s a couple of things here

that are really important to point out. One is that no one
company alone is going to be building the metaverse. Many

different companies many different developers businesses are
going to be building together. But what I do think that is

important is that we’re building in the principles of safety and
security right in from the start. And then if we have these

principles right as a society then we’re going to be so much
better at tackling the new challenges that inevitably come along

with new technologies as and when they arise. The Facebook files
Nicola have revealed some of the ills of social media that

Facebook knew internally. But. From the public’s perspective it
appears you did not act on that Instagram was toxic to teens

that less than 5 percent of hateful content was taken down. Is
Facebook taking a longer look in the mirror right now or running

away. Or are you committing to double down and take some
accountability for these issues.

You know what we’re seeing right now is a coordinated effort to
selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture of our

company and it really doesn’t in any way reflect a company that
I know and that I’m passionate about and that I love working

about. And I’m actually really proud of our record. Navigating
these complicated tradeoffs involved in operating in the

services of scale. And I would say look at the actions that
we’ve taken. Look at the considerable investments that we’ve

made. If I just take this year we’re on track to spend more than
five billion dollars on safety and security. And I think that’s

more than any other tech company. Even if you adjust the scale
and the fact that we now have 40000 thousand people that are

working on safety that are working on security for the company I
think shows that we’re not running away that we absolutely

understand the responsibilities that we have. I’m against the
different areas that you could look at. You can see that the

progress that we’re making across all these different areas. But
you’re 40000 people serving three billion users. So there’s this

question is Facebook just too big to cover. And there may be so
many smart and well-intentioned and capable people who work

there but can you moderate every political moral and religious
issue in every single country in every language around the

world. Or is that just impossible for any one company to do.
So one of the things that we’ve set out to do is actually set

out and be very open and transparent about the work that we’re
doing in this area. And so that’s why we now publish four times

a year. The Community Standards Enforcement Report and we’re
even opening our books to E. Why as an independent auditor to be

able to validate and look at our results. Now I think this is
some of the most comprehensive most sophisticated work that is

going on anywhere around the world. And I’m really proud of that
work.

But to your question we’re not satisfied if there’s anything on
our platform that could in any way cause harm to somebody. And

so we’re committed to continuing to get it done off of our
platform. We might not be able to get everything done but we

absolutely are committed to do everything we can to make those
numbers as small as possible. Meantime Facebook score ad

business remains the engine of growth for now. We’ve seen
Facebook and Twitter and SNAP take a hit as a result of the

Apple ad tracking technology changes. Apple’s reporting its
earnings results today. They actually missed estimates for

fourth quarter revenue. But I’m curious if you have any words
for Apple right now as somebody who is so influential in

Facebook I or I should say matters ad business. Now we’ve we’ve
been warning for a long time about apples ISE 14 policy and the

fact that really it’s been benefiting Baron bottom line at the
expense of small businesses and at the expense of creators. And

I think we’re seeing that play out now especially with small
businesses where you know they have really small budgets. And

for these small budgets to work they’ve got to be able to reach
the customers that matter to them. And especially over the last

year we’ve seen how vital it was for small businesses to be able
to you know if it weren’t able to open their shops to be able to

reach out and find the customers that matter to them. And at its
heart we do believe that privacy and advertising can co-exist.

But without the collateral damage caused by Apple.
There’ve been questions about Mark Zuckerberg continuing role at

the company and I’m curious if there’s any indication he might
step back as CEO move into a solely chairman role like we saw

Larry and Sergei do at Google. And similarly for Sheryl Will.
Will she

take on a different role or take a step back if the ad business
is less important than the metaverse.

Nobody is saying that the ad business is less important at
Facebook it is an important part of how we of how we do

business. And I wish you could have seen me be the all hands
that we just came off that both Mark and Sheryl were on. And the

excitement that was emanating from not just Morgan’s show but
all of our leaders at the company sharing the vision exploring

it having fun with that with all of our employees and really
toasting towards this next vision for the company over the over

the decades ahead. So as you know somebody who is so critical
critical in running the global ad business I’m curious what is

the ad opportunity that you see in the metaverse. How effective
do you think ad targeting will be there. And tell us a little

bit more about your own experience and what you think
advertisers will get out of this.

So I think there’s going to be a lot of exciting opportunity for
advertisers but I think first and foremost there’ll be a lot

that just happens in the metaverse for free as there is on the
Internet today. But there will be advertising opportunities. But

the way that we build all of our products first and foremost is
that we start with people. We start with people. And we make

sure that you know and understand how people are using and
enjoying our products. And then and then we go from there. I

think there’s going to be opportunities for creators and we’re
going to make sure that we’re building the tools that both

creators and developers need in order to help them be successful
in the metaverse as well. So I think there’s a lot to be excited

about. I’m already seeing businesses you know starting to
explore what it’s like to actually experiment with augmented

reality. So I think about the fact that you can go on Instagram
today and you can try on virtually a pair of rape glasses in the

Rayburn shop. Will Charlotte tell me where you can try makeup on
and lipstick. So already seeing brands start to start to have

fun with it. Now Nicola you’re having lots of conversations with
advertisers every day. And I have to ask you are they concerned

about the social media onslaught. Are they concerned about the
claims and revelations of the whistleblower. Francis how good.

Because the critics wonder how any advertiser right now can
justify advertising on Facebook platforms. Yeah. So I’m having

what I would say is very thoughtful and considered conversations
with advertisers. And what they’re acknowledging and what

they’re seeing is the thoughtfulness of the approach the
investments that we’re making and the considerable progress that

we have been making over the years. They recognized how the how
the conversation has been taken out of context. They recognize

why it’s right for a company to do research about its products
to understand how to constantly improve them. And they

understand that. And they think that’s an important part. And
they also see our commitment to the work that we do with

organizations like Gombe and on the MRC as well. And that’s
where we stand by and is really important to us.