Meta has released a new standalone social app called Forum, a Reddit-style platform built directly on Facebook Groups, without a launch event, a press release, or an official blog post. The app landed in the US App Store on May 22, 2026, with no press release and no fanfare, a standalone community discussion tool built on Facebook Groups, topped with an AI “Ask” feature.
What Forum is and how it works
Meta has positioned Forum as “a dedicated space built for deeper discussions, real answers and communities you care about,” describing it as a platform that functions similarly to Reddit. The app borrows heavily from Reddit’s playbook: niche communities, question-driven discussions, crowd-sourced answers, and AI-powered content discovery.
After signing in with a Facebook account, Forum loads a user’s groups, profile, and activity, and lets them make posts with a nickname. Meta noted that those groups still exist on Facebook, and anything shared on Forum is also visible in the corresponding groups on the main platform.
Unlike the standard Facebook feed, Forum’s feed is centered on conversations within groups, allowing users to see “what real people are saying, not just what’s trending.” While the app allows posting under an anonymized username, a user’s actual identity remains visible to the administrators of any group they participate in.
AI tools baked into the platform
The app includes an AI tool called “Ask” that collects answers from across a user’s groups so they do not have to search each community separately. A second AI feature helps group admins manage communities and moderate content automatically.
Forum is part of a broader effort at Meta to release more apps. The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that with AI-driven efficiencies allowing the company to build more apps, the social media giant now aims to roll out many more apps than it has historically.
Reddit’s stock reacted immediately
Reddit shares fell almost 6% on the news, on concern that Forum could create an alternative avenue for internet users to congregate and create discussion groups. Truist analysts wrote in a note that “the risk from this move, if successful, is a gradual erosion of Reddit’s utility for casual users who have less community loyalty to Reddit and simply want answers.”
The reaction reflects how directly Meta is targeting Reddit’s core proposition: peer-to-peer advice and interest-based communities that feel distinct from the noise of mainstream social feeds.
This is not the first time Meta has launched a standalone app for groups. Back in 2014, the company rolled out a dedicated Groups app that aimed to make it easier for users to share content across groups, but that effort was shuttered in 2017. This time, Meta is pairing the community structure with AI tooling it did not have a decade ago, and the competitive stakes are considerably higher.
Part of a wider Meta app push
Forum is one of two new apps from Meta in recent weeks. Earlier in May, the social media company rolled out a new app called Instants that lets users share disappearing photos with Instagram friends.
As public social feeds become increasingly saturated with AI-generated content and creator-driven entertainment, Meta appears to be betting that smaller communities and interest-based conversations will become more valuable engagement engines.
Meta has confirmed that Forum is still being tested on Apple’s iOS, as part of Facebook Groups. A Meta spokesperson said the company tests many new products publicly to learn what people find interesting and useful to their experiences across its apps.
The launch was first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra and reported by TechCrunch, with independent confirmation from CNBC and Engadget.
