Bengaluru: Meta Platforms Inc is exploring plans to launch a new social media app in its bid to displace Twitter as the world’s “digital town square”.
Meta’s app will be based on a decentralized framework like Mastodon, a Twitter-like service that launched in 2016 and now has nearly 2 million monthly active users.
“We have been exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there is an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests ,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.
It was not immediately clear when Meta would roll out the new app.
Meta, which saw a spurt in user growth following its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in the early 2010s, recently faced intense competition from Chinese short-video app TikTok.
Monthly active users for Meta’s family of apps grew 4.2% in the December 2022 quarter, compared to 8.8% a year earlier.
“It is a strategy to dominate all spaces under social media and have offerings that cover all use-cases and demographics,” said Jehil Thakkar, Partner, Deloitte India.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia, Shubhendu Deshmukh and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Anil D’Silva)
Disclaimer: This report is generated automatically from Reuters news service. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.