Elon Musk’s Twitter could face new competition from Facebook-owned Meta in the near future.
Meta Platforms Inc is considering launching a new social network similar to Twitter. “We’re looking into a standalone, decentralised social network for sharing text updates,” a Meta spokesperson told Variety.
The new Meta app would be built on – and interoperable with – the framework that powers Mastodon, a Twitter-like service that debuted in 2016 and has grown in popularity since Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October.
In the meantime, Meta recently borrowed another strategy from Musk’s Twitter playbook. Last month, the tech behemoth launched Meta Verified, a subscription service for Facebook and Instagram users that includes a verified blue check-mark badge, similar to Twitter Blue, as well as other benefits.
Meta Verified costs USD 11.99 per month on the web and USD 14.99 per month on Apple’s iOS. The service was initially launched in Australia and New Zealand, with more countries to follow “soon,” according to Meta’s chairman and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.