Sources say Facebook is creating a mobile application that will allow users to interact without using their real names, a turnaround for a website that has always pushed for people to use their real identities to connect.
The stand-alone app is expected to be released within the upcoming weeks. Sources briefed on the plans
told The New York Times that the new app is an experimental way to use the social network.
Facebook has long pushed its site as a way to establish online identities, and just last week Chris Cox, Facebook's chief product officer, said the company requires real names as a way of "differentiating the service from the rest of the internet where pseudonymity, anonymity, or often random names were the social norm.”
Most social media sites, including Twitter and Reddit, already allow anonymous names and are becoming popular with people who want to offer online commentary.
Facebook would not comment on the new app, reports The Times, with a spokesman saying the company does not offer comments on speculation or rumors.
The sources told The Times that the project is being led by product manager Josh Miller, who joined the company when it bought out his start-up, Branch, which focused on small online discussion groups.
Miller, a Princeton University dropout who is still in his early 20s, was leading the eight- member start-up when Facebook bought it for $15 million in January,
reports Business Insider.
Miller also would not comment to The Times about the anonymous report, or claims that he and the rest of his team have been working on the new app for the past year after the multi-million dollar buyout.
The sources said that the app will allow Facebook's users to comment through pseudonyms to discuss topics that they may not want to discuss under their real names.
It is not yet known if the app will connect in with Facebook's main site, or if it will allow anonymous photo sharing or affect friend interactions.
Facebook has already been flirting with allowing people to be anonymous. Founder Mark Zuckerberg this year said he'd allow developers to include an anonymous log-in feature for third-party apps like games so users can try them out while keeping their information private.
The social network last week also said it would modify its policies and reinstate the names preferred by hundreds of performers and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people whose identities had been questioned,
reports The Times.
The move is likely being made to counter the threat of a
new social network, Ello, which allows users to post anonymously,
reports The Telegraph.
Ello is an ad-free social network that is only open through invitations from a user who is already on the site. It was initially created for private use, but eventually opened to the public. Users post small bits of text or images, but the site does not yet allow users to be tagged in photos like Facebook does.
Facebook has become immensely profitable because it targets advertisers by using the data it gathers through its users' likes and posts. But Ello says it is different because it won't sell users' personal data.
"Every post you share, every friend you make, and every link you follow is tracked, recorded, and converted into data," Ello says in a
"manifesto". "Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold. We believe there is a better way."
Ello says it is getting 40,000 requests an hour from users who want to sign up for the invite-only service.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.