A brand new social media app from the team behind Facebook and WhatsApp has launched today and is already proving to be a massive hit. Threads, which has been created by Meta to rival Twitter, has already hit over 5 million downloads just hours after it launched on the Apple and Google apps stores.
"Just passed 5 million sign ups in the first four hours," Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg confirmed. You can follow the Mirror on Threads.
Linked to Instagram, Threads allows users to post up to 500 characters of text and up to five minutes of video and links, as well as pictures. It's being advertised as a friendly place where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics they care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.
It will clearly worry Twitter especially as the social network has recently come under criticism for limiting the number of tweets that can be viewed in a day and charging people extra to access popular features such as editing tweets and getting the famous blue tick added to accounts.
Threads is available now for iPhone and Android but before you download it just be aware of the data that you could be handing over to Mark Zuckerberg and his team at Meta.
A quick dig into the terms on the Apple App Store reveals the Threads app wants to access things such as health and fitness, financial info, contact info, location data and even your web browsing history.
That information could be used to target you with advertising and it may be a big reason why the app hasn't launched in the European Union. Those living in Ireland, France, Spain and Italy are yet to see Threads appearing on local app stores.
It is thought that the biggest sticking point for Threads is the implementation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act which contains provisions on sharing user data across different platforms.
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A source close to Meta has said the tech giant is holding back from a full release until it fully understands the new act which will come into force in 2024.
Some have already been quick to criticise the data Meta wants from users with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey posting an image from the Apple App Stores terms and a tweet which said "All your Threads are belong to us"
Despite those concerns, it seems this app is proving popular and could give Twitter a serious headache. In fact Chef Gordon Ramsay, pop star Shakira and Mark Hoyle, better known as the YouTuber LadBaby, have already joined and made their presence on the app known.
"I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will," Zuckerberg added.
