Oprah, Dalai Lama Could Be Early Users Of Zuckerberg's Twitter Alternative

Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta Platforms Inc. META has ramped up its plan to disrupt the social media sphere with an upcoming Twitter alternative by convincing some A-listers to join the platform. 

What Happened: Meta is in discussions with Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama, signaling their potential commitment as early users on the company’s upcoming Twitter alternative, reported The Verge.  

Meta has already garnered commitments from notable personalities such as DJ Slime.

See Also: Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Social Media Feeds Are Now Fueled By AI-Generated Content

The highly-anticipated app codenamed “Project 92” and potentially named “Threads” was previewed by Meta’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, during a companywide meeting. 

Designed as a standalone app based on Instagram and integrated with the decentralized social media protocol, ActivityPub, Meta plans to allow users to transfer their accounts and followers to supporting platforms like Mastodon. 

Coding for the app began earlier this year, and Meta plans to release it as soon as possible, the report noted. 

Why It’s Important: It was earlier reported that Meta’s highly anticipated decentralized social media network is codenamed “P92,” which could be a reference to the new codename coming to light, “Project 92.” 

The platform is said to allow creators and public figures to share text-based updates. 

Some analysts previously highlighted Meta using the term “Barcelona” for its upcoming Twitter alternative. 

Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, mocked Zuckerberg for launching a rival by calling him a “copycat.“

Why It Matters: Meta was reportedly scheming to take away Twitter’s “bread and butter” since December last year. It stemmed from the initial chaotic ride the microblogging site had under Musk.

Meta’s Instagram is currently surrounded by a pedophilia controversy which Musk has attributed as “extremely concerning.” 

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