Threads – Meta’s Twitter competitor – has landed in Europe.
After its launch in the US and UK earlier this year, Threads is finally available to social media users in the European Union (EU) today (Dec.14). Threads opted not to release a formal statement about the launch instead choosing to create a countdown timer on their website. This morning Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Threads’s parent company Meta, welcomed the new countries in a post on his account.
EU Instagram users can search ‘ticket’ within the app to view their digital invitation to Threads, which comes with a QR code and a launch time, which could vary from country to country.
Threads is a social media site built by Meta that allows users to share text, video and pictures, as well as connect with people through liking, sharing and commenting on their posts – similar to Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter).
Reason for delay in Europe launch
As TechCrunch reported, the ‘upcoming regulatory uncertainty’ described by Meta was the reason for the delay in launching. Most likely, this is about the EU’s strict rules under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – which groups together Meta, Apple and Microsoft as industry gatekeepers and thus subject to stricter rules regarding user consent and data protection. It remains uncertain if Meta had to comply with these rules to move forward with the EU launch.
The app currently has over 141 million users thanks to its ability to connect to Instagram’s two billion active users. Still a long way off X’s 528 million monthly active users.
Despite this impressive start Threads experienced a sharp fall off in usage, after launch. It remains to be seen if the same will occur when it opens to European countries.
Which countries already have access to Threads?
- US
- Canada
- UK
- Japan
- South Korea
- New Zealand
- Australia
- South Africa
- Argentina
- Columbia
- Mexico
- Peru
- Iceland
- India
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Egypt
- Hong Kong
- Vietnam
- Turkey
Full list of available countries here
Featured image: Julio Lopez on Pexels
