Users will have a Twitter-like microblogging experience, according to the screenshots provided to the media, suggesting that Meta Platforms has been preparing to directly challenge the platform after Musk’s tumultuous ownership led to a series of unpopular changes that have deactivated users and advertisers.
There are buttons to like, repost, reply, or quote a « thread, » and counters that show the number of likes and replies a post has received.
“Our vision is that Threads will be a new app that is more text and dialogue focused, modeled after what Instagram has done for photos and videos,” the company said.
Posts are limited to 500 characters, which is more than Twitter’s 280-character threshold, and can include links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long.
Instagram users will be able to log in with their existing usernames and follow the same accounts on the new app. New users will need to create an Instagram account.
Meta emphasized measures to protect users, including enforcing Instagram’s community guidelines and providing tools to control who can mention or reply to users.
Meta’s new offering, however, has ramped up data privacy issues.
The threads could collect a wide range of personal information, including health, financial, contacts, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and « sensitive information, » according to its App Store data privacy policy.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey pointed this out in a flippant tweet saying, « All your threads belong to us, » which included a screenshot of the disclosure. Musk replied « yes ».
One place Threads won’t be implemented is in the European Union, which it has strict data privacy rules.
Meta has informed Ireland’s Data Privacy Commission that it has no plans yet to launch Threads in the 27-nation bloc, commission spokesman Graham Doyle said. The Irish Watchdog is Meta’s lead privacy regulator for the EU because the company’s regional headquarters are based in Dublin.
While Meta had teased Threads with a list on the Apple App Store in the UK earlier this week, it couldn’t be found in French, German, or Dutch versions. The company is working to roll out the app to more countries, but cites regulatory uncertainty over its decision to put a hold on the European rollout.
Analysts said its success is far from guaranteed, citing Meta’s track record in launching standalone apps that were later shut down.
Also at issue is whether it’s the right move for Meta, he has announced tens of thousands of layoffs over the past year amid a slowdown in the tech sector.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg was too focusing on the metaverseinvesting tens of billions of dollars in the concept of virtual reality.
Meta risks « going too far, » said Mike Proulx, director of research at Forrester, a global market research firm. “Meta is banking on a moment in time amid Twitter’s ultimate frustration. However, this window of opportunity is already flooded with Twitter alternatives, including Blue sky, Mastodon, DepositPost.News and Hive, all competing for Twitter’s market share. »
Even so, Threads could be a new headache for Musk, who acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion.
He’s made a number of changes that have sparked a backlash, the latest of which is daily Limits on the number of tweets people can view to try to stop unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data. It now also requires paid verification for users to access the TweetDeck online dashboard.
Musk’s rivalry with Zuckerberg may be coming to an end encroaching on real life. In an online exchange the two tech billionaires apparently agreed to a cage match, though it’s unclear if they’ll actually make it to the ring.
