Technology: Meta’s Threads challenges Elon Musk’s Twitter

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Within 24 hours after its launch, Meta’s fresh-from-oven microblogging platform Threads has attracted over 30 million users worldwide, threatening big-boy Twitter, in what is seen as the latest revolution in the social media networking ecosystem.

Marc Zukerberg’s Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, launched the new platform on Thursday, ahead of the announced schedule. Users welcomed Threads immediately, especially hordes of Twitter users who have seen their erstwhile global platform stumbling from one crisis to another ever since the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, acquired it in October 2022.

As Meta already has over two billion Instagram users who can directly link their accounts to it, Threads’ user base is expected to skyrocket, the media reported on Friday.

With its simple black-and-white feed, and features allowing instant comments on other people’s “threads”, the similarities between Twitter and Threads are unmissable. Which gives rise to the question: Would Threads become the Threat to Twitter?

In October 2023, Twitter users were flummoxed when, after months of procrastination, Elon Musk finally acquired it and set out forthwith to fire staff left, right, and center all over the world. Ever since, he has fired around 80 percent of Twitter’s original workforce, and changed rules frequently and alarmingly, thus severely affecting its efficacy and credibility.

In less than a year, Twitter itself became more controversial than the controversial users it exposed in the past!

Musk also labeled news organizations like the BBC as “state-owned” media, until public backlash forced him to retreat.

Before his arrival, Twitter enjoyed years of success, as it became a favored outlet for journalists, governments, academics, and the public to share information on the key issues of the day. In emergencies, Twitter offered real-time support. During some of the worst disasters, its users shared information quickly and made life-saving decisions.

Of course, Twitter has had its own flaws—like trolls, bots, and online abuse—but it carried on with its ability to block and report inappropriate content, which became central to its success in building a thriving global community.

Now, with the arrival of Meta’s Threads, the ecosystem is set to transform.

By linking the new platform to Instagram, Meta has got a head-start to reach out to the critical mass of users needed to establish itself as a leading platform.

Not only can Threads users retain their usernames, but they can also bring their Instagram followers with them. The ability to retain community in an app that provides a similar experience to Twitter is what makes Threads the biggest threat yet.

Threads’ runaway initial success showed that Twitter users were already looking for an alternative platform with similar functionality where they would not have to rebuild their communities. That was why so many stayed on Twitter.

But the new Threads users could soon find themselves flooded with unwelcome content or advertisements, as their information will be used to “personalize ads and other experiences” across both platforms—but deleting either of the two platforms—Instagram and Threads—means the user will delete the other one as well! That is, either use both of them or none.

And Meta has its own set of problems to face. It has not launched Threads in the European Union because of regulatory concerns. The EU’s new Digital Markets Act could raise challenges for Threads.

Not just that. Its users may also be able to view and interact with Threads content from non-Meta accounts, without signing up with Threads.

But Musk is also ready for a fight to retain his fief. Hours after Threads’ launch, Twitter’s lawyer Alex Spiro released a letter accusing Meta of “systematic” and “unlawful misappropriation” of trade secrets.

He alleged that former Twitter employees, whom Meta hired, were “deliberately assigned” to “develop, in a matter of months, Meta’s copycat ‘Threads’ app”.

Meta has disputed these claims.

But their professional rivalry may just have begun.