By Reuters | Updated: 10 March 2023
Meta is exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates, a company spokesperson said on Friday, in what could be a direct competitor to billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter.
“We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s 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.
Earlier in the day, the Indian business news website Moneycontrol.com first reported the news, citing sources. The report said Meta’s new content app would support ActivityPub, the decentralized social networking protocol that powers Twitter-rival Mastodon and other federated apps.
While Twitter and Facebook are controlled by one authority – a company – decentralized platforms such as Mastodon are installed on thousands of computer servers, largely run by volunteer administrators who join their systems together in a federation.
Meta’s new app would be Instagram-branded and will allow users to register or login through their Instagram credentials, according to the Moneycontrol report.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that Meta would cut thousands of jobs as soon as this week in a fresh round of layoffs, only a few months after the Facebook-parent reduced more than 11,000 people from its workforce.
The new round of job cuts is being driven by financial targets and is separate from the “flattening,” the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Meta declined to comment on the Bloomberg report when contacted by Reuters.
Last month, the Washington Post newspaper reported that Meta was planning to cut jobs in a reorganization and downsizing effort.
Meta, at that time, declined to comment, but spokesperson Andy Stone in a series of tweets cited several previous statements by Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg suggesting that more cuts were on the way.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
