Facebook has launched an experimental web app as part of a public beta test. Called Hotline, it allows users (or "hosts") to speak to an audience, which can ask questions by text or audio, as reported by TechCrunch.

You can visit the Hotline website here. Available for users in the US, Hotline allows sign-ins via Twitter, but it has a waitlist and a way for you to apply to host your own show or session. Hotline doesn’t yet have a mobile app, but an iPhone app is supposedly in the works. 

Hotline is being described as a Q&A product and a mix of Clubhouse and Instagram Live. But, unlike Clubhouse, hosts can remove questions from the queue and even remove people from their session. or remove people from their Hotline session. In this first phase of testing, Facebook employees are reportedly moderating events and removing anyone who violates Facebook’s community standards and terms of service.

Facebook Hotline photo 2

Facebook’s experimental app development division, the NPE Team, has been working on Hotline since at least February.

It has even released a statement to confirm it is now testing Hotline. The group said it's "hoping to understand how interactive, live multimedia Q&As can help people learn from experts in areas like professional skills, just as it helps those experts build their businesses".