Meta Threads Is Now LIVE: Update on the “Twitter Killer” App

Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta came out with a new app called Threads, which is being called “the Twitter Killer.”

That is because it is very similar to Twitter in nature, and Twitter has been struggling up to this point all on its own WITHOUT Instagram’s help. 

Now that Meta Threads is LIVE and there is already a lot going on, we have what they’re calling a “privacy nightmare” overseas.

They said, “We’ve got over 10 million sign-ups in the first 7 hours.”

Mark Zuckerberg also published his first tweet in over 11 years just to take a dig at Elon Musk. It’s a lot.

What We Know About Meta Threads Now That It Is Live

It passed 2 million signups in its first two hours live in the App Store and like we said, 10 million in the first 7 hours. 

Threads allows Instagram users to authenticate with their existing credentials in order to post short updates, including:

• text up to 500 characters
• links
• photos
• videos up to 5 minutes in length

At launch, Threads is available on iOS and Android in 100 countries, though not in the EU, reportedly due to concerns around adhering to local data privacy regulations. 

Users can log in with their Instagram credentials, where their username and verification status will carry over. However, Threads profiles can be customized independently as well.

Threads will soon offer support for ActivityPub — the same social networking protocol used by open-source Twitter rival Mastodon, along with other federated apps.

Once that takes effect, Threads will be able to broaden its reach, as Mastodon’s ecosystem engages 1.7 million active users. 

But we aren’t sure when exactly Threads will deliver on this feature. Instagram head Adam Mosseri also said in a post that there will be no ActivityPub support at launch. 

ActivityPub is a protocol that is used to post on decentralized networks like Mastodon. 

When you tap on the threads.net button next to someone’s profile, Threads shows a popup saying:

“Soon, you’ll be able to follow and interact with people on other fediverse platforms, such as Mastodon. 

They can also find people on Threads using full usernames, such as @mosseri@threads.net.”

Mosseri said, “We’re committed to building support for ActivityPub, the protocol behind Mastodon, into this app. 

We weren’t able to finish it for launch given a number of complications that come along with a decentralized network, but it’s coming,

“If you’re wondering why this matters, here’s a reason: you may one day end up leaving Threads, or, hopefully not, end up de-platformed. 

If that ever happens, you should be able to take your audience with you to another server. Being open can enable that.”

At the moment, you can only view posts and profiles as well as share links to those posts. 

Clicking on the Threads icon on the top will change the theme from light to dark or vice versa.

And lastly, users will be able to decide who can reply to posts — everyone, profiles they follow, or accounts cited in the post called mentions.

The “Privacy Nightmare” Happening In The EU

EU is in the group of 27 countries in Europe called the European Union. 

“Information provided about the app’s privacy shows the app may collect highly sensitive information about users in order to profile their digital activity –

– including health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, contacts, search history, and other sensitive information.

Given that Meta, the developer behind the app and the company formerly known as Facebook…

…makes its money from tracking and profiling web users to sell their attention via its behavioral advertising microtargeting tools- this is hardly surprising.”

Tech Crunch added,

“But it does raise questions over whether Threads will be able to launch in the European Union –

– where the legal basis Meta had claimed for processing Facebook users’ personal data was found unlawful at the start of this year.

Meta has since switched to a claim of legitimate interest for this data-for-ads processing. 

But, earlier this week, (at the time I’m filming this) the bloc’s top court piled more regional woe on Meta via a judgement on a German case referral…

…where the Court said this legal basis is not appropriate for running Meta’s behavioral ads either and consent needs to be sought. 

Under current EU law, sensitive information such as health data also requires an even higher standard of explicit consent…

…to be legally processed in order to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation. 

So Meta would need to ask and obtain specific permission for processing sensitive data like health.”

The EU has stricter privacy laws than the US currently.

And the way that Meta goes about tracking people on its apps, like the new Meta Threads app, is actually against the law over there.

“Additionally, incoming EU regulations ban use of sensitive data for ads entirely and may require explicit consent for tech giants to combine data for ad profiling. 

So there’s even more regional legal uncertainty looming on the horizon for Meta’s people farming business. 

Currently, the adtech giant does not even offer users a general, up-front choice to deny its tracking and profiling…

…let alone explicitly ask if it can share data on your health conditions so advertisers can try to sell you diet pills or whatever. 

And with even harder limits on surveillance ads coming down the pipe in the EU…

…an app that proposes to track everything to maximize its appeal to advertisers will be a tough sell to regional regulators.

Plus — as if all of that wasn’t enough — Meta was recently hit with an order to stop sending EU users data…

…to the US for processing and fined almost $1.3BN for breaching the GDPR’s requirements on data exports. 

That order is specific to Facebook but, in principle, the same requirement could be applied to other Meta services –

– that don’t adequately protect Europeans’ data over the pond (such as by using zero knowledge architecture end-to-end encryption). 

And, clearly, Threads isn’t going to offer users that kind of privacy.”

So if you’ve kept up with our Facebook posts over the years, then you know that Facebook has been in hot water, for a while. To put it lightly.

Check out this post if you need a recap on what happened to Facebook.

But it seems like with this Meta Threads app, it’s no different! 

Now if all of this sounds very overwhelming to you, or if the thought of marketing on a new app or just social media marketing, in general, is too much for you right now –

– you should know our expert social media marketing agency generates profitable social media results for small businesses every day.

So if you’d like a free, custom marketing proposal and quote, get in touch with our team today!