Meta prepares a potential rival of Twitter: a social network based on short texts

Objectiveowner of Facebookhe said Friday that he’s working on a new social network for posting lyrics; a project that is seen as a potential rival to Twitter.

Since tycoon Elon Musk took over Twitter, the platform has suffered from glitches, layoffs, and loss of advertisers due to a lack of content moderation.

But no major alternative to Twitter has emerged so far, so world leaders, politicians, celebrities and companies continue to use it to express themselves.

Meta confirmed on Friday that it had begun preparing a new platform after information was released by digital news sites.

“We are exploring an independent, decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” Meta said.

“We believe there is an opportunity to create a separate space where creators and public figures they can share updates about their interests,” the statement added.

According to digital media, the new Meta application would use a technology that would allow it to be interoperable with other platforms.

This would mean a clear break with the practice of platforms such as Instagram or YouTube that remain behind technological walls and operate using company servers under strict rules.

In December, Musk briefly banned tweet linking to other platforms; including Facebook and Instagram.

Twitter holds on with earnings

After a shaky start when Elon Musk acquired Twitter last year, the social network’s accounts are improving and it’s not out of the question that the platform could post positive cash flow in the second quarter of 2023.

Despite the sharp drop in advertising, the platform’s finances are holding up thanks to the draconian cost-cutting measures implemented by the owner of Tesla when he took over the company.

Musk’s strong interventions have attracted the attention of European and US authorities, who are concerned about the impact of cuts to the monitoring of the social network.

The European Union, according to rumors, would have asked Musk to hire more personnel moderate content on Twitter.

The platform currently relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and staff to monitor the network, but the EU deems it necessary to have more staff as moderators and data verifiers.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission instead asked Twitter to deliver internal communications relating to Musk and information on the layoffs made when took over the network.

The Commission fears that the reduction in staff could undermine the social network’s ability to protect its users.

For Musk, these are additional issues that put him under increasing pressure, and of which Tesla is also affected.

Shares of the electric vehicle giant have plunged on Wall Street, while tensions persist on Twitter and on the preliminary investigation launched by the US authority for road safety into a defect in the steering wheels.

To the problems, Musk adds others, such as the blunder of having made fun of a disabled Twitter employee, who did not know – after nine days of asking for clarifications – if she had been fired or less in the last round of cuts.

After receiving no response from the head of Twitter for days, Haraldur Thorleif soon vented on the social network and attracted Musk’s attention.

The owner of the Tesla asked him exactly what tasks he was performing at the time, and in response he resorted to irony question their work and their disability.

Thorleifsoon suffers from muscular dystrophy which limits him to a wheelchair. “This guy, who’s 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 they told me that weren’t true”.