Zuckerberg plots rival to Musk’s Twitter – WSJ

Facebook parent Meta Platforms has unveiled a stand-alone app it plans to launch through Instagram to compete with social media company Twitter, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal and The Verge.

The app was demonstrated during a company-wide meeting on Thursday by Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, who reportedly called it Meta’s response to Twitter.

The app will be based on Instagram and will integrate with decentralized social media protocol ActivityPub. That could allow users of the new app to take their accounts and followers with them to other apps that support ActivityPub, including Mastodon.

“We’ve been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution,” Cox said, as quoted by The Verge, which watched the meeting and had some screenshots of the upcoming app’s interface.

Cox noted that the company’s goal for the app was “safety, ease of use, reliability” and making sure that creators have a “stable place to build and grow their audiences.”

He pointed out that Meta already has celebrities committed to using the app, including DJ Slime, and was in discussions with others, including Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama.

Development of the app started in January, Cox revealed, adding that Meta will be making it available “as soon as we can.”

The app is code-named internally as ‘Project 92’ and its public name could be Threads, according to The Verge, which cited internal documents.

Meta’s development of the new app reportedly comes in response to the criticism of the policy changes at Twitter since its acquisition by Elon Musk. Some left-leaning users have accused the billionaire of catering to right-wing views and have left the platform.

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