Meta Threads launch LIVE: Mark Zuckerberg takes on Elon Musk’s Twitter with Instagram-linked app

Meta’s new app Threads is completely free to download.

It’s not yet clear whether there will be any additional costs in using it.

Two months ago, Meta launched a paid-for verification service on Instagram and Facebook costing £9.99 month on web and /£11.99 a month on iOS.

It’s possible that Threads could also incorporate similar features, but this is currently yet to be revealed.

Meta’s new app has raised data privacy concerns.

Threads could collect a wide range of personal information, including health, financial, contacts, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and ‘sensitive info,’ according to its data privacy disclosure on the App Store.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey pointed it out in a snarky tweet saying, ‘All your Threads are belong to us’ that included a screenshot of the disclosure. Musk replied ‘yeah.’

But Meta has emphasised measures to keep users safe, including enforcing Instagram’s community guidelines and providing tools to control who can mention or reply to users.

Threads has now gone live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries, but its release in parts of Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns.

The company has been criticised for its handling of personal data, the essential ingredient for targeted ads that help it rake in billions of pounds in profits.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said he regretted that the launch was delayed in the European Union, but had Meta waited for regulatory clarity from Brussels, Threads would have been “many, many, many, months away.”

“I was worried that our window would close, because timing is important,” he told the tech news site Platformer.

According to a source close to the matter, Meta was wary of a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which sets strict rules for the world’s “gatekeeper” internet companies.

One rule restricts platforms from moving user data between products, as would potentially be the case between Threads and Instagram.

Meta was caught doing just that after it bought WhatsApp, and European regulators will be on high alert to ensure it does not do so illegally with Threads.

Threads can be used in: English, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Mark Zuckerberg’s rival to Twitter received a mixed reaction today after more than 10million users signed up to the app.

Social media erupted with memes slamming the Facebook boss’s new app Threads, which went live at midnight in the UK and allows users to post up to 500 characters of text, five minutes of video, and pictures.

Twitter users complained about ‘bugs’ and the ‘lack of basic features’ on Threads, with some sharing amusing GIFs saying that people would be ‘running back to Twitter’ after trying it.

Read the full story on MailOnline here:

Mark Zuckerberg ‘s ‘Twitter killer’ app Threads has launched overnight and has seen more than 10 million people sign up in its first few hours as Elon Musk rubbished it and claimed it spreads ‘false happiness’ like Instagram .

Threads, created by Facebook owners Meta, went live in the UK at midnight on Thursday and is trying to woo Twitter users with longer posts and accounts linked to their Instagram. Threads is the top trending word on Twitter today.

Posting on the app, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg said: ’10 million sign ups in seven hours’. He also tweeted for the first time in 11 years – sharing a Spiderman meme obviously aimed at his bête noire Musk – after claiming Threads will outstrip Twitter’s 450million users.

Read the full story from MailOnline’s chief reporter Martin Robinson here:

Social media consultant and industry analyst Matt Navarra told the PA news agency that the app is the ‘first credible threat’ to Twitter.

He said: ‘I think that Threads is the first real, credible threat to Elon Musk’s Twitter.

‘Users of Twitter are desperately looking for an exit from the platform to escape, and the existing options of rivals are fairly limited.

‘They all have the same big problem, which is you have to start from zero – it’s a network that is completely new.

‘One of the biggest benefits for Meta is that it’s building off the back of Instagram, where people are familiar and can also kick-start their following because it ties into the same social graph.’

He said that while users have an appetite for change, it would be weighed up against mixed public opinions on Meta.

He added: ‘Meta and Instagram comes with baggage, a bad name and bad press. People are very wary and sceptical of anything [Meta owner] Mark Zuckerberg does.’

Threads is created by Facebook and Instagram owners Meta and has been pitched as a rival to Twitter.

Linked to Instagram, it allows users to post up to 500 characters of text and up to five minutes of video and links, as well as pictures.

Users of the new app will be able to use their Instagram login to get started and, like on the picture-sharing platform, can follow and connect with friends and influencers with similar interests.

In the UK, all users under 18 will be defaulted onto a private profile when they join.

Someone’s feed on the app includes threads from people they follow as well as recommended content from creators they have not yet heard of.

Threads posts can be shared on a user’s Instagram story and as a link on other platforms.

People can control who mentions them and who can reply to them on the new app, replies to threads containing specific words can be filtered out and other users can be unfollowed, blocked, restricted and reported.

Any accounts a user has blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on the new app and Instagram’s safety guidelines will be enforced on the new platform, Meta said.

Threads has seen more than 10 million people sign up in its first few hours, according to Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg.

Chef Gordon Ramsay and pop star Shakira have already joined and made their presence on the app known.

Posting on the app under the username zuck and using a mind blown emoji, Mr Zuckerberg said: ’10 million sign up in seven hours.’

He said earlier: ‘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.’

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage after Threads, the new app created by Facebook and Instagram owners Meta, was launched in Britain.

Stay with us throughout today for all the latest updates and to find out more about the app and how it’s received by users.