Meta working on a Twitter-like social media network
“We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta representative told the tech newsletter.
The project, codenamed “P92,” was first reported by Moneycontrol on Friday. People familiar with the plans told the outlet that Meta’s app will be decentralized and use the same protocol that powers Mastodon, known as ActivityPub.
Users will be able to sign into “P92” with their Instagram logins, and Meta hopes to harness all Instagram users’ data to improve the product even if they don’t use the new social network, Moneycontrol reported.
Meta’s statement comes as Twitter’s problems mount following its takeover by Elon Musk last October.
The world’s richest person has slashed Twitter’s workforce by almost three-quarters to less than 2,000 people. Since then, it has suffered several outages, one of which was caused by an engineer accidentally deleting data and finding there was nobody left on the team responsible to fix it, per Platformer.
Musk also said there has been a “massive decline in advertising” since he took over, blaming “political” reasons.
Meta also appeared to take inspiration from Musk’s business plan last month by announcing a paid subscription for verified status on Instagram and Facebook, similar to Twitter Blue. But according to The Information, just 0.2% of US Twitter users have signed up.
Zuckerberg’s company is now considering joining the ranks of several other Twitter competitors. Mastodon saw its installations grow 657% in the 12 days since Musk bought Twitter, though its popularity has since faded.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who has criticized Musk’s management, has launched his own new platform called Bluesky, while several ex-Twitter employees have similar projects in the works.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider made outside normal working hours.
