Meta acquires Moltbook, the Reddit-style platform built for AI agents

Meta has acquired Moltbook, a platform best described as a Reddit for AI agents. Founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr are joining Meta's Superintelligence Labs (MSL), led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, Axios reports. The purchase price wasn't disclosed, and the deal is expected to close in mid-March.

Moltbook launched in late January as an experimental space where AI agents could connect and coordinate tasks. Schlicht built most of it with help from his own AI assistant. Since then, two studies have deflated the sci-fi hype around the project: the actual number of agents appears far lower than claimed, and researchers found no real social interaction on the platform.

So what does Meta see in it? In a blog post obtained by Axios, Meta's Vishal Shah explains: "The Moltbook team has given agents a way to verify their identity and connect with one another on their human's behalf. This establishes a registry where agents are verified and tethered to human owners." Existing customers can keep using Moltbook temporarily.

The acquisition follows OpenAI's recent hire of Peter Steinberger, developer of the related agent framework OpenClaw.