Meta’s Twitter rival Threads now live in the UK and US

Meta promised to launch Threads, its answer to Twitter, on July 6. Today, the social media surprisingly went live, and now everyone can view content. However, the full features of the new platform are limited to 100 markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom, because they have “weaker privacy laws.”

Users in regions like the European Union will not get the full feature set of Threads “at this point”, a spokesperson of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) told Independent.ie.

The first message on Threads was posted by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta and founder of Facebook. His username is the same as the one on Instagram, but instead of instagram.com, the URL says threads.net. Users attempting to like, comment, or reply will receive a message saying: "Threads hasn't rolled out to your region yet. Until then, you can continue viewing content."

The Irish regulator has been in contact with Meta and told journalists that Threads is designed to import data from Instagram, including behavioral and advertising information. However, the DPC is not actively blocking the platform - it is Meta who is yet to prepare the service for a European launch that is compliant with GDPR privacy rules of the EU.

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