Discord has announced the impending closure of Gas, an anonymous compliments-based social media app it acquired earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. The official shutdown date for Gas is set for November 7, as confirmed by the company to TechCrunch on a recent Thursday, with The Information being the first to report this development.
A Discord spokesperson stated in an email, “We can confirm that the Gas app will be shutting down on November 7. We acquired Gas with the goal of supporting our efforts to grow across new and core audiences, and make Discord the best place to talk, hang out, and have fun with friends online. The team will continue to play a vital role in our work to make it easier for users to connect with their friends on Discord.”
An internal memo seen by The Information revealed that the closure of Gas was not unexpected, as Discord’s CEO, Jason Citron, informed employees that the primary motivation for acquiring Gas was to gain access to its engineering talent. The plan had been to keep Gas operational until its growth had naturally slowed down.
Gas, which was launched in August 2022, gained popularity, especially among teenagers, for its mission of creating a positive social media platform. Within just two months, the app reached 1 million daily active users. At its peak in October and November 2022, Gas even outperformed TikTok and other popular social apps in the Apple App Store rankings.
Since its launch, Gas accumulated 7 million global all-time downloads, as reported by the mobile analytics firm data.ai. November 2022 marked its highest download numbers, with 3.1 million downloads. Subsequently, Gas experienced a decline, with only 2,900 downloads in the previous month. By August 29, 2022, Gas held the 16th position among top iOS social media apps in the United States in terms of downloads. It’s worth noting that Gas was exclusively available on iOS in the United States and Canada.
Gas catered to high school students, encouraging users to answer polls about their peers, designed to boost their confidence rather than diminish it. The selected teen would then receive an anonymous compliment via the app. Gas’s appeal stemmed from its distinct focus on fostering a positive impact on its users, setting it apart from conventional social media platforms.
Gas was founded by Nikita Bier, who had previously created TBH, another anonymous social app tailored for high schoolers, where users answered positive questions about one another. In 2017, Bier sold TBH to Facebook, though it was ultimately discontinued in 2018 due to low usage.
Notably, Bier seems poised to launch another app, as indicated by a recent tweet: “Next week there will be a new King of the App Store.” While the nature of this new app remains undisclosed, given Bier’s track record, it’s quite possible that it will be another anonymous social platform.
