Meta’s coming for Elon Musk’s bag: Everything you need to know about the latest Twitter copycat, Threads

By Mason Berlinka

Published Jul 4, 2023 at 12:19 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

46410

It’s been a bumpy road, to say the least, on the wild ride that has been Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. But, it’s looking like it might be about to crash for good. Facebook parent company Meta is set to launch a rival to the infamous bird app in the US on Thursday 6 July 2023 in the form of a platform named Threads, aptly dubbed asā€”ā€œan Instagram app.ā€ So, what’s different about Facebook’s version of the app, and should any of us care?

What is Threads? And how is it different from Twitter?

Mark Zuckerberg’s attempt at a Twitter-style app appears to offer very few differences so far, aside from a promise that the app will be ā€œsanely run.ā€ The platform will be first and foremost a ā€œtext-based conversation app,ā€ much like Twitter aspires to be, although deep down we know these apps are in reality hotspots for flame wars, leaks, and cancel threads. Hey, I just got the name.

Zuckerberg is directly ripping off the notorious threads that have long been synonymous with Twitter. I won’t lie, I’m kind of here for this catty behaviour from tech billionaire Zuckerberg, I didn’t know he had it in him. Although saying that, the semi-fictional plot of The Social Network did always suggest he had a petty streak.

Screenshots that have appeared on the Apple store listing for the app show a clean user interface and a recognisable layout, one that won’t alienate anyone planning to jump ship from Musk’s dumpster fire of an app.

Meta’s coming for Elon Musk’s bag: Everything you need to know about the latest Twitter copycat, Threads

Zuckerberg hopes to make the transition even easier for hesitant netizens by allowing them to log in with their already up and running Instagram account, and even import their existing followers from the app.

Musk sparked the fury of Twitter users over the weekend by rate-limiting the amount of posts that could be viewed by non-paying accounts. A move by Musk to limit ā€œdata scrapingā€ of the website, but more than likely a ploy to squeeze more money out of its users. In stark contrast to this, Threads will have no subscription plans and no limits on the amount of content its users can view.

Plus, with the news that TweetDeck will soon be going behind a paywall, it’s almost as if Elon wants his app to fail. The Tesla CEO is making it way too easy for his future cage match opponent.

Although Threads seems as though it’ll be a decent alternative to Twitter, users online were quick to point out the amount of data Meta is already asking from you when you sign up for the new platform.

Although this prospect might be scary to the more data-protective internet dwellers, I’m already on Instagram, so I know Zuckerberg has all this information anyway. I’ve already sold my soul to the data devil, but if information hoovering is something that worries you, Threads may not be an ideal solution to the Twitter problem—you might want to try Mastodon, or T2 Social instead.

It’ll be interesting to see how Threads approaches freedom of speech and censorship, issues that have been a huge part of the Twitter discourse, and something that is allegedly very close to Musk’s heart, despite his repeated hypocrisy surrounding it.

Keep On Reading

By Mason Berlinka

Meta advised to ā€˜free the nipple’ after non-heteronormative couple unjustly penalised on Instagram

By Charlie Sawyer

Elon Musk fanboys are now worshipping this $600,000 monument of him riding a rocket as a goat

By Charlie Sawyer

Aldi just became the first UK supermarket to provide free in-store period products and transphobes are mad

By Charlie Sawyer

Odd Muse founder Aimee Smale fights back against fast fashion controversy on TikTok

By Eliza Frost

What is Banksying? Inside the latest toxic dating trend even worse than ghosting

By Charlie Sawyer

Is Brooklyn Beckham feuding with his family? Rumours circulate after the chef skips his dad David Beckham’s 50th birthday

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Was Adam Sandler kicked out of the 2025 Oscars or was it staged? Fans speculate after his fiery outburst

By Abby Amoakuh

US gender justice group distributes Unwanted posters to warn women in Miami of Andrew Tate and get him extradited

By Eliza Frost

Zayn Malik’s new song suggests One Direction era wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows

By Abby Amoakuh

From dinner parties to grocery flexing: Inside Gen Z’s new language of luxury

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Could the next pope be Black? Peter Turkson’s papal bid could rewrite over 1,500 years of Vatican history

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Is Tate McRae a secret Trump supporter? Fans react to viral speculation

By Eliza Frost

How Jet2holidays and Jess Glynne became the sound of the summer

By Abby Amoakuh

Ayo Edebiri calls out Elon Musk for sparking racist abuse by spreading fake news about her

By Alma Fabiani

BLACKPINK’s Jennie, Lisa and RosĆ© caught saying the N word in newly leaked videos

By Charlie Sawyer

How rediscovering Nintendogs as an adult has helped my anxiety

By Abby Amoakuh

Enough founder Katie White and experts debate whether self-swab DNA kits are a breakthrough or a risk to rape justice

By Charlie Sawyer

Pope picking 101: What actually happens during Conclave

By Charlie Sawyer

Are Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler feuding? Rumours swirl following Oscars 2025

By Abby Amoakuh

New video game that allows men to r*pe female family members triggers backlash amid incel concerns