Social network Threads has now launched in EU countries, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noting that this now opens it up to an additional 448M people. The company first teased this last week.
EU citizens will also be able to browse Threads without having to create an Instagram account – a move likely intended to placate antitrust regulators …
Background
Threads launched back in July, and was available in more than 100 countries, including the US and the UK – but not EU countries.
Indeed, Meta even went as far as blocking EU citizens who used a VPN service to access the platform.
The company last week started teasing access for EU citizens.
In the Instagram app, users in the EU can also go to the “Search” tab and search for the word “ticket.” This will unlock an invitation to use Threads with a QR code, with personalized information on when Threads will seemingly be available in their specific country.
This revealed that they would be given access on December 14, and that has now happened.
Threads launched in EU countries
Meta announced the news today.
Today, Mark Zuckerberg announced that we are expanding Threads to countries across Europe. We’re excited to give more people the opportunity to follow and join the conversations they care about.
While the company hasn’t given any official explanation of why the EU rollout took so long, it’s widely believed that this was due to needing to make changes to comply with the Digital Markets Act. In particular, the requirement to have an Instagram account in order to use Threads was likely to have been viewed by regulators as “self-preferencing.”
Namely, a large company using its market power to give preferential treatment to itself, or one of its own services.
That theory seems to have been confirmed, as those in EU countries can browse and search the service without the need for an Instagram account (though they do still need one to post).
Since launching Threads in July, we’ve made significant improvements to the app, including a web experience, a Following Feed, the ability to edit a post, search with keywords, tag topics and more.
People in the EU can choose to create a Threads profile that is connected to their Instagram account – which means they get the same experience as everyone else around the world – or use Threads without a profile. People who use Threads without a profile can browse content on Threads, search for accounts, share content via link copying or platform sharing, and report Threads content, but can’t create a post or interact with content.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments