Meta Launches Forum Reddit Rival and OpenAI Hits $5.7B Revenue
- Meta has launched a new application called Forum in May 2026, positioning the platform as a direct competitor to Reddit by blending community-driven discussions with artificial intelligence.
- The application, which was released for iPhone, represents a strategic shift in how Meta organizes interest-based communities.
- Technical details regarding the origin of the app indicate that Meta developed Forum by leveraging existing infrastructure.
Meta has launched a new application called Forum in May 2026, positioning the platform as a direct competitor to Reddit by blending community-driven discussions with artificial intelligence.
The application, which was released for iPhone, represents a strategic shift in how Meta organizes interest-based communities. According to reporting from Engadget, the company quietly released
the app, which is described as Reddit-like
in its structure and functionality.
Integration of Facebook Groups and AI
Technical details regarding the origin of the app indicate that Meta developed Forum by leveraging existing infrastructure. Digital Trends reports that the company built a Reddit rival out of Facebook Groups
, suggesting that the platform utilizes the community data and group dynamics already established within the Facebook ecosystem.

Beyond traditional forum threads, the app incorporates AI-driven synthesis of information. The Verge describes the experience as a hybrid that is part Reddit, part Facebook, and part Google AI Overview
. This indicates that Forum likely uses generative AI to provide summarized overviews of community discussions, similar to the AI-generated summaries found in search engine results.
Platform Availability and Strategy
Forum is one of two new applications Meta released for iPhone in May 2026, according to 9to5Mac. By separating these community features into a dedicated app, Meta is moving toward a model that prioritizes discovery and topical discussion over the traditional social graph of friends and family.
This development places Meta in direct competition with platforms that specialize in pseudonymity and interest-based aggregation. By combining the scale of Facebook Groups with AI-powered summaries and a forum-style interface, Meta aims to capture a larger share of the community-led information exchange market.
