Flashspoter - In the past five years, searches for information on the internet often ended with the keyword "Reddit" to get answers from real users. Meta is now responding to that pattern of behavior by launching Forum, a standalone app for Facebook Groups that functions like Reddit but with the addition of artificial intelligence. It is at this point that we will find out if Meta is capable of taking over the place of a digital community discussion that has for long been dominated by other players.
It was soil for the first time when a social media consultant Matt Navarra found The Forum in the iOS App Store on 22 May 2026 while Meta had not made any official announcement. To use the app users need to provide their Facebook account login details. Once logged in, the app draws up in a flash your list of the groups you have joined and your Activity History along with it. Any uploads made on the Forum will remain visible on the main version of Facebook, creating a two-way sync without breaking the existing ecosystem.
Meta calls forums "dedicated spaces for in-depth discussions, real answers, and communities you care about. An excellent feature of the app is an AI-based "Ask" tab that can summarize answers from discussions of various groups, similar to the way Google displays snippets from Reddit. Users can also post under pseudonyms, although group administrators can still see their real identities.
What sets the Forum apart from previous Meta efforts is the presence of an AI assistant for group administrators. This feature helps moderators manage content and maintain community health automatically. In comparison, in 2014 Meta launched a separate Groups app, but was shut down three years later for lack of user appeal.
Unlike Reddit which relies on a karma system and full anonymity, The Forum offers natural accountability as each account is tied to a verified Facebook identity. This competitive advantage can suppress trolling and the spread of hoaxes, a chronic problem that still shackles anonymous discussion platforms. In addition, the reach of Facebook groups that already exist globally is a start-up capital that any newcomer to the realm of community discussion does not have.
Meta did not disclose the global launch schedule or the list of countries that can access the Forum at this time. A Meta spokesperson simply stated that the company is publicly testing various new products to see interest and usability. Forums became one of Meta's two new apps in the past month, having previously released Instants to share disappearing photos.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly instructed his team to build more apps thanks to the efficiency of artificial intelligence. In an internal statement, Zuckerberg mentioned the possibility of building 50 new apps, but chose to start with a few first. Forums and Instants seem to be spearheading this aggressive product expansion strategy.
Some tech watchers doubt consumers really want more apps from Meta. The reason is that apps like Instants are considered to imitate BeReal and Snapchat, while Meta Edits launched last year are similar to Bytedance's CapCut. But Forum presence is different because Meta has community group assets that have been formed for two decades.
A live test run by The Verge journalists showed that the AI Forum chatbot is able to refer to specific discussions from groups that users participate in. When asked about the card game Magic: The Gathering, the AI provides relevant advice and even displays a link to the original conversation. The system allows users to verify the source of the answers themselves, in contrast to conventional chatbots that often provide responses without a trace.
Meta also provides a new group exploration feature based on interests, mimicking Reddit's recommendation mechanism. But the fundamental difference lies in the alias system: on the forums, ordinary users can use pseudonyms, but administrators and Meta can still track their real identity. This approach has the potential to attract a community that wants high-grade discussions without the clutter of fake accounts.
According to Meta communication manager Feryal Hemamda who was writing to The Verge, the Forum was just a product public trial. She revealed that the company did not want to disclose any further information regarding the availability of the regional areas or the plans of monetization. However, this certainly indicates that the change of Meta's strategy from a simple social network to a diverse ecosystem of small applications has been confirmed by this move.
With 1.8 billion monthly active Facebook Groups users according to 2024 Meta internal data, Forums have a huge potential user base. The success of this application will largely depend on how easily users abandon the habit of searching for information on Reddit. One thing is certain: the competition of community discussion platforms will enter a new, more exciting round.
Source
TechCrunch – “Meta quietly launches a new Reddit-like app called Forum”
The Verge – “Meta’s new Forum app hands-on: Facebook Groups meet AI”
PCMag – “Meta Launches Forum, a New Reddit-Like App for Facebook Groups”
Engadget – “Meta’s Forum app brings Facebook Groups to a dedicated space with AI”