Facebook owner Meta is working on a new “text sharing” social media network, it said Friday, in a project seen as a potential rival to embattled Twitter.
Since billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in October, the platform has suffered outages, layoffs, and seen advertisers flee over the lack of content moderation.
But so far no major alternative to Twitter has emerged, leaving global leaders, politicians, celebrities, and companies little choice but to continue to communicate via the platform.
Following reports on news websites Platformer and India-based Moneycontrol, Meta confirmed on Friday that it was beginning to work on the new platform.
“We’re exploring a standalone, decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” Meta, which also owns Instagram, said in a short email statement.
“We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” the statement added.
The media reports said that Meta’s new app would use technology to allow it to be interoperable with niche network Mastodon and other platforms — enabling users to broadcast posts to people on other networks.
This would be a clear break from the usual practice by tech giants, where platforms such as Instagram or YouTube are kept behind technological walls and operate using company servers under strict rules.
Mastodon runs from decentralized computing servers, with no central management or authority calling the shots.
