Meta, Facebook’s parent company, wants to create a new global social network that can rival Twitter, media reported Friday.
“We are exploring an autonomous, decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” a spokesperson for the California-based company said in a statement to media.
Meta thinks there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates on their interests.
The Meta application will operate in a decentralized way like Mastodon, a service similar to Twitter launched in 2016 and which now has around 2 million active users per month, the same source said. The launch date of the new application has not yet been set.
The number of monthly active users of Meta’s app bouquet grew 4.2% in the December 2022 quarter, compared to 8.8% growth a year earlier.
Meta, which saw its user numbers explode after buying Instagram and WhatsApp in the early 2010s, has recently faced intense competition from Chinese short-video app TikTok.