Meta, the parent company of social media giants Facebook and Instagram, is planning to launch a decentralized social media platform, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The upcoming app, codenamed P92, will be a text-based content app that supports ActivityPub, the decentralized social networking protocol that powers Mastodon and other decentralized apps that compete with Twitter.
The P92 app will be Instagram-branded and allow users to log in with their existing Instagram credentials, according to a report by TechCrunch.
The app’s minimum viable product (MVP) is set to enable users to broadcast posts to people on other servers, but it’s still undecided whether users can follow and view people’s content on other servers.
The MVP will integrate a rights manager for first-party content from the beginning, but not third-party content from other apps and servers.
Everything about Meta P92
The app’s initial version will include features such as tappable links in posts with previews, user bio, username, verification badges, images and videos that can be shared.
It will also have functionalities such as followers and likes, but it is uncertain whether commenting and messaging features will be included in the product’s first version.
The upcoming app is expected to adhere to the company’s current privacy policy, but it will also have a supplementary privacy policy and terms of service that specifically address cross-app data sharing.
The development of the P92 app comes as Twitter battles a growing number of technical issues that have caused multiple outages and glitches.
Some users have sought alternatives to Twitter, like Mastodon and Post.news, although some of these platforms are now seeing a decline in users after an initial bump.
Meta’s social media apps have a global user base of 3.74 billion, which includes Instagram’s monthly active user count of 2 billion.
The new decentralized social media platform is expected to provide a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.
