Meta takes aim at Twitter with the launch of rival app Threads

Meta has unveiled an app to rival Twitter appearing to target users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned iquest and frequently changed iquest by Elon Musk Called Threads the new offering is billed as a textbased version of Metas photosharing app Instagram that the company says provides a new separate space for realtime updates and public conversationsThe app went live just after midnight Wednesday in the UK in Apple and Google Android app stores in more than 100 countries including the US Britain Australia Canada and Japan Early celebrity users include chef Gordon Ramsay the pop star Shakira and Mark Hoyle better known as the YouTuber LadBaby Users get a Twitterlike microblogging experience according to screenshots provided to media suggesting that Meta Platforms has been gearing up to directly challenge the platform after Musks tumultuous ownership has resulted in a series of unpopular changes that have turned off users and advertisersThere are buttons to like repost reply to or quote a thread and counters showing the number of likes and replies that a post has received Our vision is that Threads will be a new app more focused on text and dialogue modelled after what Instagram has done for photo and video the company said Posts are limited to 500 characters which is more than Twitters 280character 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 have to set up an Instagram account Meta emphasised measures to keep users safe including enforcing Instagrams community guidelines and providing tools to control who can mention or reply to users Metas new offering however has raised data privacy concernsThreads could collect a wide range of personal information including health financial contacts browsing and search history location data purchases and sensitive info according to its data privacy disclosure on the App Store Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey pointed it out in a snarky tweet saying All your Threads are belong to us that included a screenshot of the disclosure Musk replied yeah One place Threads wont be rolled out is in the European Union which has strict data privacy rules Meta has informed Irelands Data Privacy Commission that it has no plans yet to launch Threads in the 27nation bloc commission spokesman Graham Doyle said The Irish watchdog is Metas main privacy regulator for the EU because the companys regional headquarters is based in Dublin While Meta had teased Threads with a listing on Apples UK App Store earlier this week it could not be found in the French German or Dutch versionsThe company is working on rolling the app out to more countries but cites regulatory uncertainty for its decision to hold off on a European launch Analysts said its success is far from guaranteed citing Metas track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down Also in question is whether its the right move for Meta which has announced tens of thousands of layoffs over the past year amid a tech industry slowdown CEO Mark Zuckerberg also has been focusing on the metaverse investing tens of billions of dollars in the virtual reality concept Meta risks spreading itself too thin said Mike Proulx a research director at Forrester a global market research companyMeta is banking on a moment in time amidst peak Twitter frustration However this window of opportunity is already flooded with Twitter alternatives including Bluesky Mastodon Spill PostNews and Hive which are all competing for Twitters market share Even so Threads could be a fresh headache for Musk who acquired Twitter last year for USD 44 billion Hes made a series of changes that have triggered backlash the latest being daily limits on the number of tweets people can view to try to stop unauthorised scraping of potentially valuable data He also is now requiring paid verification for users to access the online dashboard TweetDeck Musks rivalry with Zuckerberg could end up spilling over into real life In an online exchange the two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a cage match faceoff though its unclear if they will actually make it to the ringThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever