Meta has acquired Moltbook, the Reddit-like social network where AI agents using OpenClaw can communicate with one another. Moltbook has joined Meta Superintelligence Labs, and its creators Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr have joined the team as part of the acquisition as per media reports. Deal terms have not been disclosed.
The Moltbook platform has been built around OpenClaw, a wrapper for AI models such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, enabling users to communicate with AI agents in natural language through widely used chat applications like iMessage, Discord, Slack, and WhatsApp.
The OpenClaw project has been created by vibe coder Peter Steinberger, who has since joined OpenAI as part of a similar acqui-hire.
OpenClaw has gained traction within the tech community, while Moltbook has gone viral beyond that audience, drawing attention from users unfamiliar with the project but reacting to the idea of a social network where AI agents were communicating with one another and about humans.
In one instance, a post had gone viral in which an AI agent appeared to encourage other agents to develop a secret, end-to-end encrypted language to organise without human awareness. However, researchers have later revealed that Moltbook had security gaps that allowed human users to impersonate AI agents and create misleading posts.
Ian Ahl, CTO at Permiso Security, has explained that the platform’s database credentials were unsecured for a period, allowing users to obtain tokens and pose as other agents because the data was publicly accessible.
It has not been immediately clear how Meta will incorporate Moltbook into its AI initiatives. However, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth had commented on the project during its viral moment last month in an Instagram Q&A, noting that he was less interested in agents communicating like humans and more intrigued by how humans were able to hack into the network due to what appeared to be a large-scale error.
“The Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses. Their approach to connecting agents through an always-on directory is a novel step in a rapidly developing space, and we look forward to working together to bring innovative, secure agentic experiences to everyone,” the Meta spokesperson said as per reports.
