Meta exploring plans for Twitter rival

(Reuters) -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 was launched in 2016 and now has about 2 million monthly active users.

“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.

It was not immediately clear when Meta would roll out the new app.

Meta, which saw user growth boom after the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp in the early 2010s, has of late faced intense competition from Chinese short-video app TikTok.

Meta’s monthly active users for its family of apps grew 4.2% in the December 2022 quarter, compared with 8.8% growth a year earlier.

“It is a strategy to dominate all spaces under the 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)