Facebook is Reportedly Working on an App for Anonymous Sharing

Facebook is reportedly building a standalone app that will let its users interact and communicate under the cloak of anonymity. This is said to be the outcome of recent criticism for Facebook’s stance on real names. Sources within the company told the New York Times that Facebook plans to release an app that would let people talk anonymously.

Facebook’s long held policies require verified email addresses, and originally required college-specific email address logins per its collegiate origins. Those policies clashed recently with drag queens, some of whom had their profiles outright removed from Facebook by algorithms.

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook would branch out from real-name apps. “I definitely think we’re at the point where we don’t need to keep on only doing real identity things,” he said in an interview. “If you’re always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden.”

Little else about the software is known at this stage. We don’t know what it will be called, or whether it’s indeed meant to be a direct competitor to apps like Secret and Whisper, which are built entirely around the idea of staying anonymous. Facebook is also widely criticized for its use of user information. When Facebook made its Messenger app standalone and required more access to users’ information, many decided to drop the service entirely.

Obviously this new app wouldn’t change Facebook’s overall strategy, but it could be an interesting experiment for both the company and its billion-plus users.