Threads: All you need to know about the new social media app

Threads is the fastest growing app ever, with a staggering 100 million users in only 5 days from launch. However, the new social media platform has received many complaints and controversies despite its youthfulness.

Threads is a new social networking app made by Meta for sharing with text, and photos and videos (up to 5 minutes). It is available to download in the UK, the US, and 100 other countries globally. But it is not available in the European Union due to the stringent data-use laws and is blocked in Iran. Despite the website being blocked by the Great Firewall, the Threads app reached the top 5 in the Apple App Store in China. There are now over 104 million users on Threads including some famous faces like Kim Kardashian, Shakira, Will Smith and more.

In spite of its rapid growth, it has raised many data collection concerns. You have to use an Instagram account to log in on Threads, so it automatically collects the data you put into your Instagram account. According to Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy, the platform collects information on your name, email address, activity, posts, and ways that followers and other users interact with your profile.

This includes third-party services and users, particularly information on your username, profile picture, and IP address. Threads also pulls sensitive material like a user’s financial data, health, and search history via cookies. The app also collects and receives information on the devices you use to access the platform and how you use them. These are the reasons why Threads in not yet permitted in the EU.

Threads also received controversy over a twitter post from Katie Notopoulos, an ex-Buzzfeed worker, who posed as the Editor in Chief of Threads and made a pro-Nazi post. Threads has also come under fire for its policy which prohibits users from deleting their Threads profiles without also deleting their corresponding Instagram accounts.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, has also been critical of how similar the new app is to his app Twitter, and has gone so far as to file a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, accusing the firm of engaging in “systematic, wilful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property”.

Elon Musk has also tweeted a series of explicit tweets towards Zuckerberg. And now the Taliban leader is backing Elon Musk’s Twitter and is accusing Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads of having an ‘intolerant’ policy on free speech. Threads is said to focus on the issues that upset Twitter users most and promises to treat them better. However, it has already received its fair share of backlash since its launch on 6th July 2023.

What do you think of the so-called ‘Twitter killer’? 

By Chloe O

Boston High School Newsroom

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