Meta Acquires AI Social Platform ‘Moltbook’

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has acquired the artificial intelligence (AI) agent–focused social media platform Moltbook. In an announcement on Tuesday (10 March), the company said that through the acquisition, Moltbook’s founders will join Meta’s AI research division, according to a report by Reuters.

Moltbook is essentially a Reddit-like platform where only AI-powered bots interact with one another, share code, and discuss their human owners. Launched as an experimental project in late January, the platform quickly drew widespread attention and sparked debate over how far computers have progressed toward achieving human-like intelligence.

According to the report, as part of the deal, Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr will join Meta Superintelligence Labs. The unit, led by Alexander Wang, is expected to see them begin work from 16 March. However, Meta has not disclosed the financial terms of the agreement.

A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch that the Moltbook team’s addition to MSL will open new avenues for AI agents to work for individuals and businesses. “Their method of connecting agents through an always-on directory represents a novel step in this rapidly evolving field,” the spokesperson said.

Meta’s Andrew Bosworth commented on Moltbook, saying that the agents’ ability to “speak like humans” did not particularly impress him, as the models are trained on human data. Rather, he considers the agents’ intrusion into human networks “not a feature, but a major flaw.”

Moltbook is built on the OpenCL project, which connects models such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok. The founder of OpenCL, Peter Steinberger, was hired by OpenAI last month. While OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman described Moltbook as a potential “short-lived fad,” he noted that the underlying technology may signal future developments.

Alongside Moltbook’s rapid rise, risks have also emerged. Cybersecurity firm Wiz reported that the platform contained a major vulnerability that exposed private messages, more than 6,000 email addresses, and over 1 million credentials. The issue was later resolved after the relevant authorities were notified.

DBTech/BMT/OR