Meta, which owns Facebook, said Friday that it is working on a new text-publishing social network; a project that is seen as a potential rival to Twitter.
Since tycoon Elon Musk took over Twitter, the platform has suffered from technical problems, layoffs and the loss of advertisers due to a lack of content moderation.
But until now, no major alternative to Twitter has emerged, so world leaders, politicians, celebrities, and businesses continue to use it to express themselves.
Meta confirmed on Friday that it began preparing a new platform after that information was published by digital news sites.
“We are exploring a decentralized, independent social network for sharing text updates,” Meta said.
“We believe there is an opportunity to create a separate space where creators and public figures can share updates about their interests,” the statement added.
According to digital media, the new Meta application would use technology that would allow it to be interoperable with other platforms.
This would mean a clear break with the practice of platforms like Instagram or YouTube that remain behind technological walls and operate using company servers under strict rules.
In December, Musk briefly banned linking tweets to other platforms; including Facebook and Instagram.
After a shaky start when Elon Musk acquired Twitter last year, the accounts of the social network are improving and it is not ruled out that the platform could register a positive cash flow in the second quarter of 2023.
Despite the sharp drop in advertising, the platform’s finances are holding up thanks to draconian cost-cutting measures implemented by Tesla’s owner when he took over the company.
Musk’s strong interventions drew the attention of European and US authorities, concerned about the impact of cuts in the monitoring of the social network.
The European Union, according to rumors, would have asked Musk to hire more staff to moderate content on Twitter.
The platform currently relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and personnel to monitor the network, but the EU considers it necessary to have more employees as moderators and fact-checkers.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has instead asked Twitter to hand over internal communications related to Musk and information about layoffs made when he took control of the network.
The Commission fears that the reduction in staff could compromise the social network’s ability to protect its users.
For Musk, these are additional problems that put him under increasing pressure, and from which Tesla is also affected.
Shares of the electric vehicle giant fell on Wall Street as tensions persist over Twitter and the preliminary investigation launched by the US highway safety authority into a defect in steering wheels.
To the problems, Musk adds others, such as the blunder of having mocked a disabled Twitter employee, who did not know – after nine days of asking for clarifications – whether or not she had been fired in the latest round of cuts.
After receiving no response from the head of Twitter for days, Haraldur Thorleifsoon vented on the social network and caught Musk’s attention.
The Tesla owner asked him exactly what tasks he was doing then, and in response to the answer he resorted to irony by questioning his work and his disability.
Thorleifsoon suffers from muscular dystrophy which limits him to a wheelchair. “This guy, who is rich, doesn’t work, and claims as an excuse that he has a disability that prevents him from typing but not tweeting,” Musk commented vehemently.
Then, hours later, he made mea culpa: “I would like to apologize” to Haraldur Thorleifsson “for not having understood the situation. I based myself on things that they had told me and that were not true.”