Meta rolls out Twitter rival Threads in the EU

Threads, the texting app from Facebook owner Meta, arrived in the European Union on Thursday, months after its global launch in July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

Threads is a spin-off of the Instagram photo app and aims to be a rival to X, formerly known as Twitter, after that platform alienated many users and advertisers following Elon Musk’s purchase last year.

“Today we open Threads to more countries in Europe. Welcome everyone,” Zuckerberg said on Threads.

The threads went live in 100 countries earlier this year, but not in the EU. Meta officials cited regulatory clarity as the reason for delaying the social network’s arrival in Europe.

Meta has repeatedly come under the EU regulatory microscope, especially over concerns about how it uses people’s data to deliver highly targeted advertising.

The European Union has strengthened its legal arsenal to rein in Big Tech, with stricter rules to protect European users online and boost competition in an industry dominated by American giants.

More than 100 million people had joined Threads within a week of its launch, which excluded the EU.

Meta said EU users can now create a Threads profile connected to their Instagram account, but can also use the app without a profile to browse, share and even report content, as part of the company’s compliance with the rules. of the EU.

However, they cannot interact with Threads content or post without signing in to Instagram.

Instagram has about two billion users worldwide.

Threads said it had added new features since its launch, including a “Follow Feed,” the ability to edit a post, search with keywords, and tag topics.

‘Reach more people’

Under a landmark law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU named Meta a “gatekeeper,” and its Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp face tighter restrictions.

The stricter rules especially affect the world’s largest online companies. They include Meta, Google’s Alphabet, Amazon Apple, TikTok parent ByteDance, and Microsoft.

Zuckerberg said a day earlier that Threads had begun testing in which users’ posts will also be available on similar open-source, text-based rival social networks like Mastodon.

“Making Threads interoperable will give people more choices about how they interact and help content reach more people. I’m pretty optimistic about this,” Zuckerberg said in a Threads post.

Interoperability is also an EU objective. According to the DMA, the most popular messaging services will have to allow users to send messages to other applications.

Meta disputes the EU’s designation of its instant messaging service Messenger as a “core platform service” and that its Facebook Marketplace also falls within the scope of the WFD.

The company has struggled to comply with the strict rules of a 2018 EU data privacy regulation.

It hopes that by offering ad-free paid subscriptions in Europe for Facebook and Instagram for users who are not willing to have their personal data collected, it will help avoid further problems.

Address misinformation

Threads boss Adam Mosseri also said this week that the app would expand its fact-checking program next year.

“We currently compare fact-checking ratings from Facebook or Instagram to Threads, but our goal is for fact-checking partners to have the ability to review and rate misinformation on the app. More to come soon,” he said on Threads.

Another milestone of EU law is the Digital Services Act, which forces digital giants to aggressively police online content in the EU, including misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, against the risk of fines. important.

AFP partners with Meta to provide fact-checking services in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

© 2023 AFP