At a time when Twitter is experiencing unheard-of difficulties, social media behemoth Meta has revealed it is developing a new “text sharing” platform. In a statement released late on Friday, Meta—the company that controls Facebook and WhatsApp—confirmed reports that it had begun developing the app. A separate, autonomous social network for text update sharing was being investigated, according to the statement.

“We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” the statement added.

What can we expect from the potential Twitter Rival?

Mastodon, an autonomous social media network that functions somewhat like Twitter, is one of the platforms that the new Meta platform is intended to interact with. Users would then be able to share their messages on other networks thanks to this. Twitter does not offer the option. Elon Musk, the platform’s new owner, temporarily outlawed Twitter profiles that shared connections to other social media networks in December. Due to their stringent technological barriers, other platforms like Instagram and YouTube also forbid such collaboration.

After a whistleblower claimed that the parent company of Facebook was conscious of the damage that its platform was causing users, it changed its name to Meta in 2021. The so-called metaverse, which was introduced by its creator Mark Zuckerberg and was built on virtual and enhanced reality, has since fallen short of expectations.

Although Facebook and Twitter have long been competitors, Meta’s choice to introduce a “text-sharing app” coincides with a period of unheard-of change for Twitter. Since Musk, a multibillionaire, took over the business in October of last year, the platform has experienced disruptions, layoffs, and a loss of ads. Following widespread cutbacks and some employee walkouts that resulted in the loss of about two-thirds of its workforce, Twitter is reportedly working with a skeleton staff at this time. It is common to attribute recurring bugs to said cutbacks.