Gas app sold to Discord

The Gas app, which encourages friends to compliment each other, will continue as a standalone app for the time being, Discord said.

Discord, a group-chatting app known for its topic-specific forums, has announced it had acquired Gas "to grow across new and core audiences."

Gas shot in popularity last year and was briefly the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store when it overtook TikTok and BeReal in October.

The app is oriented toward high-school students. It urges users to "gas up" – or compliment – their peers in anonymous polls.

"Its tremendous success shows the opportunity that exists in creating a playful yet meaningful place for young people," Discord said in a blog post.

While Gas is meant to uplift young people with positive affirmations from their friends, it has also left some parents concerned about the kind of information their kids are asked to share and its in-app paid features.

Gas was developed by former Facebook manager Nikita Bier. In 2017, he co-created a similar app called TBH, which Facebook bought shortly after its launch. It reportedly paid $100 million for the app – just to close it down the following year.

"Sold my company five years ago to the world's largest consumer app. Today I sold my company to the next largest one," Bier said in a tweet announcing the sale to Discord.

Discord said Gas would continue as a standalone app "at this time." The Gas team – which consists of only four people, according to Bier – would join Discord, the company said.