Share: Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is beta testing Hotline, a new app being positioned to rival Clubhouse. What Happened: Hotline is being developed Facebook’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team under the direction of Eric Hazzard, who joined the company in 2017 after it acquired his teen-polling app “tbh.” While Hotline emulates Clubhouse’s Q&A format, it also includes a video component that the audio-only Clubhouse lacks and will automatically record events as they occur — Clubhouse events are not recorded. Furthermore, Hotline will be free for any user to join, unlike Clubhouse’s invitation-only set-up, and there is no limit on the size of audiences participating in events.