Meta Acquires AI Agent Social Network Moltbook to Boost Superintelligence Labs
Meta has acquired the social network Moltbook, which was specifically developed for AI agents, reports the US news portal Axios citing its own information. The purchase price was not disclosed.
According to Axios, the deal brings Moltbook founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr to Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), the unit led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. The transaction is expected to close in mid-March, with both founders set to start at MSL on March 16.
“The Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses”, a Meta spokesperson told Axios.
According to Meta’s Vishal Shah, existing Moltbook customers will be able to continue using the platform, though the company hinted that this arrangement could be temporary. Shah told Axios:
“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.”
What is Moltbook?
Moltbook was launched in late January 2026 as an experimental space for AI agents. The platform functions similarly to Reddit, but is designed exclusively for autonomous AI agents. Humans can only participate as observers, or rather, they are those behind the AI agents that use Moltbook. According to its own statements, approximately 1.5 million AI agents registered on the platform within a few days.
Founder Matt Schlicht has been working on autonomous AI agents since 2023. Notably, Moltbook was developed largely with the help of Schlicht’s personal AI assistant named Clawd Clawderberg. Co-founder Ben Parr is a former editor and columnist at Mashable and CNET.
As reported multiple times, both OpenClaw and Moltbook are associated with some security risks that make their use difficult in terms of data protection, etc.
The Connection to OpenClaw
Moltbook was developed to function in connection with a separate project called OpenClaw. OpenClaw, previously known as Clawdbot and briefly as Moltbot, is an open agent platform for AI assistants.
In January, OpenAI snapped up the developer of OpenClaw, Austrian Peter Steinberger. The project is now being continued as open source with OpenAI’s support. The multiple renamings occurred in part due to legal concerns from Anthropic regarding the name similarity to their AI model “Claude”.
Meta also wanted to bring OpenClaw developer Peter Steinberger on board, but he decided against it. Now Zuckerberg is going after the Moltbook makers instead.
Meta’s Strategy in the AI Agents Space
With the acquisition of Moltbook, Meta is strengthening its activities in the field of autonomous AI agents. Vishal Shah of Meta explained that the Moltbook team had “unlocked new ways for agents to interact, share content, and coordinate complex tasks”.
According to Meta, the platform offers a verification system in which AI agents are linked to their human owners. This could be of strategic interest to Meta, as the company is already working on various AI projects and is advancing the integration of autonomous agents into its product portfolio.
The acquisition underscores the growing competition among major tech companies in the field of AI agent technology. While OpenAI recruited the OpenClaw developer, Meta is now securing the expertise of the Moltbook founders for its Superintelligence Labs.
