Reddit stock – Reddit shares fell almost 6% on Friday as Meta launched a standalone test app called Forum for online discussions, part of Facebook Groups—sparking concerns from analysts that it could steer casual users away from Reddit.
By Friday afternoon, the worry was already showing up in the numbers. Reddit shares fell almost 6% after Meta rolled out a new standalone app for online forums called Forum, a move investors feared could give users another place to gather and trade ideas.
Forum is being tested as a standalone app on Apple’s iOS. It also sits under the umbrella of Facebook Groups, where discussion communities already exist across many topics.
Analysts at Truist put the concern in plain terms in a note on Friday. They described Forum as an attempt by Meta to compete against Reddit as an online forum for public discourse. and said it “represents a new threat.” Their view centered on how shifts like this may not need to steal Reddit’s core base all at once to hurt the business.
The stock’s pressure comes as Reddit’s performance has had its own momentum—and yet the market still reacted to the possibility of gradual change. Reddit’s stock is now down almost 40% this year, even though the company has reported a strengthening online ad business. In April, Reddit reported its seventh-straight quarter of sales growth, topping 60%.
Meta’s side of the ledger, meanwhile, has been moving in a different direction. Meta reported revenue growth of 33% in the latest quarter.
Truist argued that the risk. if Forum gains traction. is not a sudden disappearance of communities but a slow erosion of Reddit’s usefulness for casual users—people who have less community loyalty and simply want answers. The analysts also said that any impact would likely hit non-core Reddit users more than directly logged-in, habitual users.
Meta had its own forum ambitions years earlier, creating a separate Facebook Groups app over a decade ago before ending it in 2017. Even after that shutdown, the service continued to exist as part of Facebook, still hosting discussion groups on all sorts of topics.
Reddit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For now, the latest market signal is clear: even as Reddit posts strong sales growth, the launch of Meta’s Forum test has injected fresh uncertainty about where everyday discussions may end up next.
Reddit stock Meta Forum app Facebook Groups iOS test online forums Truist analysts online advertising sales growth share drop