Menlo Park, California - Watch out, Elon Musk! Meta, Facebook's parent company, is considering setting up an alternative to the popular messaging app Twitter.

"We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there's an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests," a Meta spokesperson told The Register.

As a decentralized service – which means users can set up their own mini-networks – the Meta offering would be similar to existing services such as Mastodon.

Twitter's co-founder and former boss Jack Dorsey is working on a similar decentralized service called Bluesky, which so far can be tested by only selected users.

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Meta, with several billion users on its various apps including Whatsapp, may be in a stronger position to make a success of a Twitter alternative.

Twitter is going through a turbulent time after its $44-billion acquisition by Elon Musk.

The tech billionaire has laid off more than half of the 7,000 or so employees, and has allowed controversial users – especially on the right wing of the political spectrum – to return to the platform.

In recent weeks, there have been several disruptions on the platform, which, according to media reports, may also have been caused partly by the job cuts.