The Facebook group Meta Platforms launched its App Threads with similar functionality in more than 100 countries on Thursday night. However, Germany and other EU countries are not among them – and it remains unclear how quickly that could change. The group refers to regulatory issues that are still open. However, one will constantly check whether the app can also be offered in Europe.
Threads is tied to Meta’s popular photo and video app, Instagram, and is considered to be Twitter’s most promising competitor. The reason for this is a head start: Meta can draw on existing connections between more than a billion users for its Twitter copy right from the start. With other Twitter competitors such as Bluesky and T2, such links have to be created from scratch. In the EU, however, the merging of data from different services could be a problem.
Instagram users can easily apply their profile to the photo app for threads. Text posts on threads can be up to 500 characters long and can contain links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long. Twitter was launched in 2006 with the original text limit of 140 characters and later doubled to 280 characters. Until the launch of Threads in the EU, users from the region can see posts in a web version, but cannot share or like them.
In addition to the accounts they follow, Thread users should also get “recommended content” played into their feeds from other profiles, according to a Meta blog post. The service reserves the right to use a wide range of personal data.
Twitter has struggled since it was acquired by tech billionaire Musk in October 2022. Among other things, the advertising revenue with which the short message service is financed collapsed. Most recently, Musk introduced limits on how many tweets users can see each day. According to him, this is intended to prevent Twitter data from being sucked off, among other things, for training software with artificial intelligence. Subscribers to Twitter can only see up to 10,000 tweets per day, and non-subscribers up to 1,000.
Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion – and later admitted that the valuation in discussions with investors is now significantly lower. Zuckerberg expressed hope Thursday that Threads will surpass a billion users over time. Twitter hasn’t had any user numbers since Musk took over, the short message service used to have more than 300 million users. Unlike Twitter in the Musk era, Meta has no money worries and can afford staying power with threads.
With the rivalry between Twitter and Threads, the stage is set for a business duel between Musk and Zuckerberg, who are increasingly appearing as rivals. In June, the two tech billionaires even agreed to an exhibition match. After initial doubts, the “New York Times” reported at the weekend that such a fight was actually being prepared – but it was still unclear whether it would actually take place. Zuckerberg, 39, trains with martial arts trainers and is visibly fitter than Musk, 52.
The Facebook group has repeatedly copied services and functions from rivals, but has had a mixed record. This worked extremely well with the Stories format invented by the photo app Snap, in which users can show their friends pictures and videos for a day. The short videos called “Reels”, with which Instagram and Facebook copy the popular Tiktok app, are also growing. On the other hand, despite several attempts, the group never succeeded in establishing a competitor to Snapchat’s self-deleting videos.
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According to media reports, Zuckerberg also tried to buy Twitter more than a decade ago. But he was rejected by the founders.
Twitter copy of Facebook group Meta quickly with ten million users
The Twitter copy of the Facebook group Meta has more than ten million users after a short time. The Threads app hit the mark seven hours after launch, Meta-Chef wrote Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday. Threads docks with Meta’s Instagram photo and video platform and is available in the US and over 100 other countries – but not in the European Union. The group refers to open questions in regulation.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri indicated in interviews that the new EU regulations with the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, which will take effect in the coming year, were a hurdle. The laws contain strict requirements for large online platforms. In the industry blog “Platformer”, Mosseri defended the decision to start without users in Germany and other EU countries. The choice was between leaving them out or “delaying the launch for many, many, many months,” he said. “And I was worried that the window would close for us.”
Threads’ launch follows particularly turbulent days for the company since its acquisition by tech billionaire Elon Musk troubled Twitter. The short message service angered users over the weekend with a drastic cap on the number of tweets they can see per day for free. After Threads launched, Musk was defiant: it’s infinitely better to be attacked by strangers on Twitter than to indulge in the “false bliss” of Instagram.
The connection to Instagram is considered a significant starting advantage for threads. Because Meta can use it for its Twitter copy right from the start on existing connections between more than a billion users. Twitter hasn’t had any user numbers since Musk took over, the short message service used to have more than 300 million users.
Instagram users can easily apply their profile to the photo app for threads. Text posts on threads can be up to 500 characters long and can contain links, photos, and videos up to five minutes long. When Twitter was launched in 2006, the text limit was originally 140 characters and was later doubled to 280 characters.
Twitter Apparently Threatens Meta With Lawsuit Over Competitor App Threads
According to a media report, Twitter is threatening the Facebook group Meta with a lawsuit because of the rival app Threads that has just been launched. A Twitter lawyer accused Meta in a letter of using confidential information and internal knowledge of the short message service for threads, the website Semafor wrote on Thursday and published a copy of the letter.
Among other things, Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro claimed that Meta had hired dozens of ex-employees of the short message service who had confidential internal information. Twitter owner Elon Musk has laid off thousands of employees since taking over the company last October. Many of them found new jobs at other tech companies.
At Meta, the allegations were rejected, wrote Semafor. For example, no former Twitter employees worked in the Threads development team, it said.
Meta released its Twitter competitor app on Thursday night. Threads is considered a strong rival for Twitter because the app can draw on a base of more than billion user accounts from Meta’s photo and video app Instagram. Threads had ten million users in the first seven hours, as Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced. Meta Platforms shares ended up falling 0.81 percent to $291.99 in NASDAQ trading.
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