meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the internet giant is expanding Threads to countries across Europe — promising to give the X/Twitter competitor more momentum. The app’s rollout in the region comes with certain changes to conform with European Union rules.
“Today we’re opening Threads to more countries in Europe. Welcome everyone 👋,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post on the platform Thursday.
When Threads launched in July 2023, it was unavailable in European Union countries. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said at the time the app has not been released in the region because of “complexities with complying with some of the laws coming into effect next year,” evidently a referenceto the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
A key difference: Users in the EU can choose to create a Threads profile that is connected to their Instagram account (the way the app works elsewhere in the world) or use Threads without a profile. People in Europe who use Threads without a profile can browse content on Threads, search for accounts, share content via link copying or platform sharing and report Threads content — but they can’t create a post or interact with content.
Even without a European footprint, Threads had notched just under 100 million monthly active users, Zuckerberg said on meta’s Q3 earnings call.
Since the launch of Threads in July, the app has launched a web version, a “Following Feed,” the ability to edit a post, the ability to search with keywords and tag topics. And in early 2024, meta’s third-party fact-checking partners will be able to review and rate false content on Threads. Currently, when a fact-checker rates a piece of content as false on Facebook or Instagram, the company extend that fact-check rating to “near-identical content” on Threads but currently fact-checkers cannot rate Threads content on its own.
