Meta Platforms rolls out X (Twitter) rival Threads in European Union; eyes big spike in users
Facebook owner Meta's text-based app Threads 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 is intended 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're opening Threads to more countries in Europe. Welcome everyone," Zuckerberg said on Threads.
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's regulatory microscope, especially over concerns about how it uses people's data to serve highly targeted advertising.
The European Union has bolstered its legal armoury to rein in Big Tech, with stricter rules to protect European users online and to boost competition in an industry dominated by US giants.
More than 100 million people had joined Threads within a week of its launch that excluded the EU.
Meta said that now EU users can create a Threads profile connected to their Instagram account, but they can also use the app without a profile to browse, share and even report content, as part of the company's compliance with EU rules.
They cannot, however, interact with Threads content nor post without an Instagram sign-on.
Instagram has some two billion users around the world.
Threads said it had added new features since its launch including a "Following Feed", the ability to edit a post, search with keywords and tag topics.
Under a landmark law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU named Meta as a "gatekeeper", and its Facebook, Instagram
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