Zuck vs Musk: Meta may launch Twitter rival

Meta Platforms is exploring a standalone decentralised social network for sharing text updates, a company spokesman said on Friday, in what could be a direct competitor to billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter.

“We’re exploring a standalone decentralised 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 spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.

Earlier in the day, Indian business news website Moneycontrol.com first reported the news, citing sources. The report said Meta’s new content app would support ActivityPub, the decentralised social networking protocol that powers Twitter-rival Mastodon and other federated apps.

While Twitter and Facebook are controlled by one authority — a company — decentralised 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. — Shubham Kalia and Shubhendu Deshmukh, (c) 2023 Reuters

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