CNN Business
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Even by Facebook standards, 2021 was a tough year.

A series of damning reports based on whistleblower leaks raised uncomfortable questions about Facebook’s impact on society; the company continued to reel from concerns about its platform being used to stage the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill; and Apple’s privacy changes threatened its core advertising business. Meanwhile, young users were flocking to TikTok.

At a virtual reality event on October 28, 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to turn the page. Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would change its name to Meta and dedicate itself to building a future version of the Internet called the “metaverse”, proving to everyone…