{"id":537949,"date":"2026-03-13T14:37:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537949\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:37:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:37:19","slug":"metas-moltbook-gamble-looks-a-lot-like-bubble-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537949\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta\u2019s Moltbook gamble looks a lot like bubble behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A version of this story appeared in CNN Business\u2019 Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

New York
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Meta, the company that changed its entire brand identity five years ago on the promise of a technology it turned out no one wanted<\/a>, just spent an undisclosed sum to acquire Moltbook, a \u201csocial network\u201d built for \u201cAI agents.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n I\u2019m quoting Moltbook there, but I\u2019m also using quotes because it\u2019s important to remember that artificial intelligence is just lines of code and therefore not capable of socializing. AI \u201cagents\u201d are just bots that can mimic human actions online, so perhaps the better descriptor of Moltbook is a \u201cpseudo-performance of a social network\u201d? If using Facebook is an online\ufeff performance, Moltbook is an attempt at aggregating every social media user into a kind of meta-spectacle of socialization.\n <\/p>\n

\n Whatever you want to call it, Moltbook is essentially a Reddit-like forum where bots are meant to \u201ctalk\u201d to one another. And Meta\u2019s decision to buy it is significant \u2014 not so much because of what it Moltbook is but because of what it represents: a speculative bet on a novel technology with no demonstrated utility for humans.\n <\/p>\n

\n The project went viral last month for two major reasons:\n <\/p>\n

Some people, apparently forgetting that AIs are designed to reflect the dystopian sci-fi and other texts they were trained on, were alarmed by how quickly the bots seemed to conspire against humans and form their own bot religion, dubbed Crustafarianism<\/a>. (There\u2019s a whole crustacean theme to Moltbook, which is built on an open-source software called OpenClaw, which used to be called \u201cClawd,\u201d but that sounded too much like Anthropic\u2019s \u201cClaude.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Moltbook is a massive security liability.<\/a> Cloud security platform Wiz found<\/a> that Moltbook granted unauthenticated access to its entire production database within minutes and exposed tens of thousands of email addresses. Wiz also found it was easy for humans to gain full access to the site, undermining Moltbook\u2019s claim that posts are purely AI-generated.<\/p>\n

\n For those inclined to see the AI race as a bubble, Meta\u2019s decision to buy an unpolished Reddit imitator on the expectation \u2014 still speculative at this point \u2014 that \u201cagents\u201d are the future of digital ads and commerce is a clear sign of the kind of irrational exuberance that has defined all of history\u2019s dumbest market meltdowns, from tulip mania to the dot-com crash.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meta last year shelled out $2 billion to acquire Manus, an AI developer, and $14.3 billion to acquire data-focused startup Scale AI, and it has reportedly dangled $100-million-plus compensation packages for top-tier researchers. And like its Big Tech rivals, Meta is borrowing tens of billions<\/a> a year to finance these deals \u2014 another possible sign of overconfidence.\n <\/p>\n

\n For Meta, the bet on Moltbook lies partly in hiring its creators, Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr, who are joining the Meta Superintelligence Labs unit. Perhaps the pair can expand Moltbook into something that drives revenue, or perhaps they create another viral hit.\n <\/p>\n

\n Certainly, they\u2019ve proven they can generate buzz, and in the world of AI, where valuations are lofty and almost fully detached from business fundamentals, that hype matters. (Meta reportedly tried to recruit Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, but rival OpenAI got to him first, per Business Insider.<\/a>)\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses,\u201d a Meta spokesperson told CNN. \u201cTheir 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.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Bottom line: Meta is all in on AI, much the way it was all in, five years ago, on its conception of an online town square called the Metaverse.<\/a> Moltbook may not be a repeat of that flop \u2014 Meta yanked its Metaverse unit\u2019s funding and slashed its staff earlier this year \u2014 but its aggressive AI spending should be a reminder of the company\u2019s history of getting out over its skis in the name of a shiny new object.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s Hadas Gold contributed reporting.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A version of this story appeared in CNN Business\u2019 Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-537949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}