Meta, the owner of Facebook, has shown staff plans for a text-based social network designed to compete with Twitter, sources have told the BBC.

It could allow users to follow accounts they already follow on Instagram, Meta’s image-sharing app.

And it could potentially allow them to bring over followers from decentralised platforms such as Mastodon.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the platform was in development. “We’re exploring a standalone decentralised social network for sharing text updates,” they said.

“We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.” Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox said coding was under way on the platform. The tech giant aims to release it soon, although no date was given. There is some speculation that it could be as early as the end of June.

Working title is P92

Screenshots have appeared online which were shown internally to employees, potentially giving an idea of what the app will look like.

Sources within the company have told the BBC that these leaked screenshots are genuine. If they are, the layout of this new platform will be familiar to anyone who has spent time on Twitter.

The text-based network – which has a working title of P92 – could turn out to be a greater rival to Elon Musk’s Twitter than either BlueSky or Mastodon.

While both have attracted users disillusioned with Twitter, starting afresh on a new social network and rebuilding a community, is difficult.

But the Instagram community is enormous. Meta says it has around two billion users, which dwarfs the 300 million that are believed to use Twitter – although its figures can no longer be verified. If even 25% of Instagram users can be coaxed into using P92 it will instantly become bigger than its older rival.