Threads

The platform provides the company with information on what posts users engage with and whom they are following. That includes “the types of content you view or interact with and how you interact with it”, as well as how long and how often you use Threads, according to the Threads privacy policy. In addition to users’ Threads activity, the company’s privacy policy indicates it also has access to GPS location, cameras, photos, IP information, the type of device being used and device signals including “Bluetooth signals, nearby Wi-Fi access points, beacons and cell towers”.

Instagram lead Adam Mosseri said in two Threads posts Friday that the new app would not encourage “politics and hard news” on its platform, a far cry from the promoted political content found on its rival platform Twitter.

Meta’s new social media platform Threads is gobbling up massive amounts of sensitive data on its 100 million users and counting.

But soon after the app—seen as a direct threat to Twitter, which recently became X— was released, users on Twitter began posting screenshots of Threads’ privacy policy published on Apple’s App store. Some pointed out the app’s terms of service give Meta permission to collect a trove of data, including information on user’s health, financial information, location, search history.

Threads collects a lot of data. According to the privacy label, which I sourced from Apple’s App store, data linked to you includes your location, health and fitness information, browsing history, “sensitive information” and search history. This also includes your contact information such as physical address, email and phone number.

Regulators will want to know how Meta is gaining market share: by offering a better product, or by using the advantages of scale to unfairly crush Twitter? Threads is integrated into Instagram, giving it potential access to roughly two billion monthly active users. Another sticky issue: Users have to delete their Instagram account to cancel their Threads account. (It’s unclear how the Federal Trade Commission, which has vowed to crack down on firms that make opting out of a service too onerous, might view this arrangement.)

KERR: Meta has policies for Facebook and Instagram, but it hasn't published any for Threads. A spokesperson told NPR that Facebook's rules apply to Threads. So, for example, people can't post false claims about voter registration. Voting groups say Threads needs a stand-alone policy. Otherwise, it's unclear how rules will be implemented and enforced. Bond Benton researches misinformation at Montclair State University, and he says this is critical, especially given reports that Meta laid off staff from its teams that work on election disinformation.

Meta has election disinformation policies for Facebook and Instagram, but it hasn't published any specifically for Threads. A company spokesman told NPR that Facebook's rules apply to Threads. So, for example, people can't post false claims about voter registration. He also said Meta is looking at additional ways to address misinformation in future updates to the Threads app.

Threads is deepening its ties to the fediverse, also known as the open social web, which powers services like X alternative Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Flipboard and other apps. On Wednesday, Meta announced that users on Threads will be able to see fediverse replies on other posts besides their own. In addition, posts that originated through the Threads API, like those created via third-party apps and scheduling services, will now be syndicated to the fediverse.

Fediverse sharing — meaning sharing Threads posts out on the open social web, which includes services like Mastodon and others powered by the ActivityPub protocol — is a key differentiator for Threads. Not only does it give Threads’ users’ content a broader reach, but it also represents a sizable effort from Meta’s engineering team to develop using open protocols that work with other services, instead of fully locking people into its own platform.

Twitter is threatening legal action over Meta's new social media service, Threads, with an attorney for Twitter describing as a "copycat" app allegedly developed by hiring former employees of the microblogging platform owned by Elon Musk and using the company's trade secrets, according to a letter posted by Semafor. The letter's author, attorney Alex Spiro of law firm Quinn Emanuel, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Meta declined to comment on the letter, but communications director Andy Stone responded on Threads, writing, "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing."Twitter, which laid off its communications staff after Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of the company last year, didn't respond to an email requesting comment.The threatening letter comes after the debut of Threads on Wednesday, which within hours had signed up 30 million new users, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday on the new platform. Threads has a similar look to Twitter, allowing users to like or repost messages, but it is riding on the popularity of Instagram by allowing people on that platform to follow their current Instagram userbase."Our vision is to take the best parts of Instagram and create a new experience for text, ideas and discussing what's on your mind," Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an Instagram post after Threads was made available for download. "I think the world needs this kind of friendly community, and I'm grateful to all of you who are part of Threads from day one."Musk, who bought Twitter last year, took aim at Threads in a tweet on Thursday, writing, "Competition is fine, cheating is not."Threads' foray into the social media space comes at a precarious time for Musk and Twitter. Some Twitter users have expressed frustration with the latest changes instituted by Musk, who recently throttled the number of tweets that nonpaying users are able to view per day. Twitter has also seen a spike in hate speech since Musk bought the platform last year.In its letter, which was addressed to Zuckerberg, Twitter alleges that Meta hired "dozens of former Twitter employees" that had access to the company's "trade secrets and other highly confidential information." Spiro also claimed that Threads was built within months by tapping the knowledge of these ex-Twitter workers. "Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms has engaged in systemic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property," Spiro wrote. Twitter plans to "strictly enforce its intellectual property rights," he added.