Meta’s Threads Upends Social Media in Less Than 48 Hours

In less than 48 hours, Meta’s Twitter rival Threads has gained over 70 million sign-ups, prompting concerns about the accumulation of power for Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as some users worry about a potential monopoly.

The success of Threads can be attributed to the dissatisfaction with Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter and the integration with Meta’s powerful platform, Instagram.

The Instagram integration has allowed Threads to overcome the challenge of gaining new users, as it prompts them to follow their existing Instagram contacts seamlessly.

While the rapid growth of Threads is impressive, it may raise competition concerns, especially with the EU’s upcoming antitrust rules that prohibit combining user data without consent and forcing users to sign up for one platform to use another.

Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram, acknowledged the complexities of complying with the EU laws and stated that Threads won’t be launching in the EU for now.

Meta’s approach to Threads may revive criticisms of copying and killing rivals, and Twitter has even threatened legal action over trade secret theft allegations.

Threads also presents an opportunity for Meta to gather training data for its AI technology, which could impact the development of artificial intelligence.

The impact of Threads on Twitter and the social media industry is uncertain, as it could pressure Twitter to improve its service while potentially concentrating power in the hands of Meta.

Viewing the issue from an advertising market perspective, Threads could reinforce Meta’s advertising market power and potentially lead to further antitrust scrutiny.

Interoperability with other distributed social media alternatives, such as Mastodon, is a priority for Threads, which would allow users to migrate their accounts to non-Meta-controlled platforms.

Interoperability is seen as crucial for fair competition, as it enables users to choose based on product quality rather than incumbency advantage.

Threads may play a significant role in shaping the future of social networking, potentially leading to a decentralized infrastructure that is not controlled by a single company or entity.