California: Meta Platforms Inc is exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates, a company spokesperson said on Friday, in what could be a direct competitor to billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter Inc.

“We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Accroding to a report Meta’s new content app would support ActivityPub, the decentralized social networking protocol that powers Twitter-rival Mastodon and other federated apps.

While Twitter and Facebook are controlled by one authority - a company - decentralized platforms such as Mastodon are installed on thousands of computer servers, largely run by volunteer administrators who join their systems together in a federation.