Twitter has a rival, as the Meta “Threads” App is officially launched in the UK and the US. It is claimed by Meta that within seven hours of the “launch” that ten million “sign up’s” had already been registered. The service is also available for download in 100 countries.
“Threads” which is designed to import data from Instagram, including behavioural and advertising information is not expected to launch in Ireland and Europe for some time, due to regulatory privacy concerns. The tech giant has also stated that the “Threads” service had not been prepared for a European launch” due to lack of clarity in the EU’s Digital Markets Act”.
It is reported that several high-profile global brands and personalities have already signed up for the “Threads” service, which is described as similar to “Twitter” in functionality. Interesting to also note the timing of the “launch” as Elon Musk has introduced recent restrictions to “Twitter”. With “Threads” offering “users” the ability to publish posts of 500 characters as opposed to Twitter’s 280 characters, the new social media platform offers choice to potential “users”. With 10,000,000 “sign up’s” already being registered “Threads” will be seen as a serious threat to Twitter.
From the perspective of protection and security of “user personal information” time will tell if Meta have learned lessons from their previous well reported data breaches of data protection legislation particularly violations of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. In recent months Facebook have been fined €1.2billion by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s office, the sanction is currently under appeal.
For now, Ireland and our European partners will watch with interest how the “roll out” of “Threads” will impact the privacy rights of “users” in over 100 countries.
MonClare Data Protection Consultancy
https://monclaredataprotection.com
Email: info@monclaredataprotect.com
Tell: 087 4616012
