Meta is quietly testing a new standalone app called Forum, a product that lifts the familiar dynamics of Reddit and drops them into the Facebook ecosystem.

Forum is built around Facebook Groups, but lives outside the main Facebook app. After logging in with a Facebook account, users see their existing groups, profile and activity pulled into the new interface. Posts can be made under a nickname rather than a real name, a nod to the pseudonymous culture that has long defined Reddit and other message-board communities.

Meta describes Forum as a dedicated space for deeper discussions, real answers and communities people care about. Instead of a single algorithmic feed tuned to what is most viral, Forum’s home screen is organized around ongoing conversations inside groups. The company says this design is meant to highlight what real people are saying and make it easier for users to rejoin threads they have already engaged with.

Although Forum is a separate app, it does not create separate communities. Groups still live on Facebook, and anything posted in Forum is visible inside the corresponding Facebook Group. That tight integration suggests Meta sees Forum less as a new social network and more as a specialized interface for its existing groups product.

Forum also leans heavily on artificial intelligence. An Ask tab lets users pose questions and receive answers compiled from discussions across multiple groups, effectively turning the collective knowledge of Facebook communities into a searchable resource. For group administrators, an AI assistant is built in to help with moderation, content management and routine admin tasks.

The launch marks Meta’s latest attempt to spin out groups into their own experience. A previous Groups app, introduced years ago to streamline sharing across communities, was eventually shut down after failing to gain traction. Forum appears to be a second try, this time with AI features and a clearer resemblance to Reddit’s topic-based forums.

Forum arrives alongside Instants, a separate Meta app for sharing disappearing photos with Instagram contacts. Together, they reflect an internal push to experiment with more standalone products, using AI tools to speed up development and test new social formats outside the main Facebook and Instagram apps.

Whether users embrace yet another Meta app remains uncertain, but Forum underscores the company’s belief that there is still untapped potential in structured, interest-based discussion communities.