A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed Instagram logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
(Reuters) - Meta Platforms' Instagram is planning to release a text-based app that will compete with Twitter and may debut as soon as June, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Facebook parent is testing the product with influencers and some creators, according to the report.
The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Meta has been contacting talent agencies and celebrities to gauge their interest in trying an early version of the app, which will be integrated with Instagram, said Alex Heath, reporter at the Verge, in a newsletter.
"The decentralized app is built on the back of Instagram but will be compatible with some other apps like Mastodon," according to a newsletter by Lia Haberman, who teaches social and influencer marketing at UCLA in California.
(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Katie Paul in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Shinjini Ganguli)
