(NYTIMES) When Mr Mark Zuckerberg appeared on screen at Facebook's virtual Connect conference last week, smiling as he wandered through sterile rooms filled with mid-century modern furniture, he looked like a man unburdened. Whistle-blower? What whistle-blower? Cascading, years-long trust crisis that has regulators fuming, employees bailing and lawmakers comparing Facebook to Big Tobacco? Hmm, doesn't ring a bell.

Instead, Mr Zuckerberg and his lieutenants cheerfully laid out their vision for the so-called metaverse, the immersive virtual environment for which Facebook was renamed - to Meta - as of last Thursday.