(NewsNation) — With a recent decline in Twitter’s popularity, Meta is looking to potentially launch an app to rival the social media platform.
Twitter has been losing both members and advertisers since Elon Musk took over the company, leaving the social platform in constant turmoil with complaints about glitches, outages and too much offensive and racist content.
Users have expressed the app is no longer dependable, despite the U.S. remaining the social network’s largest market.
Meta, which is the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram, may be preparing to make a move and launch an app to rival Twitter.
“We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates.” A Meta spokesperson told NewsNation’s affiliate The Hill. “We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.”
A decentralized app would allow users to interact with each other directly or form groups where members establish their own rules and guidelines. It wouldn’t be company controlled or censored like Twitter. Users would reportedly register or log in using their Instagram credentials.
Those familiar with planning the app’s layout said it will be similar to Mastodon, a decentralized app that came on the scene in 2016.
In the last year, Mastodon has grown from half a million active users to more than two and a half million, with many Twitter users migrating to Mastagon because of their strong dislike of Musk and the changes he’s made to Twitter so far.
Meta is hoping to attract those users with its new app.
However, like Twitter, Meta launched a subscription service for users. For $11.99, user accounts will have a verified checkmark.
Some people have called this potential move by Meta a “Twitter killer,” meaning it could lead to Twitter’s demise.
However, Twitter still has more than 400 million users worldwide. Even though it’s estimated the app will continue to lose users in the next few years, it will take a long time before Meta could even begin to put a dent into Twitter’s reach around the world.
