Social-Media
Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information
The reposts and expressions of shock from public figures followed quickly after a user on the social platform X who uses a pseudonym claimed that a government website had revealed “skyrocketing” rates of voters registering without a photo ID in three states this year — two of them crucial to the presidential contest.
“Extremely concerning,” X owner Elon Musk replied twice to the post this past week.
“Are migrants registering to vote using SSN?” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally of former President Donald Trump, asked on Instagram, using the acronym for Social Security number.
Trump himself posted to his own social platform within hours to ask, “Who are all those voters registering without a Photo ID in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Arizona??? What is going on???"
State election officials soon found themselves forced to respond. They said the user, who pledges to fight, expose and mock “wokeness,” was wrong and had distorted Social Security Administration data. Actual voter registrations during the time period cited were much lower than the numbers being shared online.
Stephen Richer, the recorder in Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix, refuted the claim in multipleX posts while Janet Nelson, the secretary of state in Texas, issued a statement calling it “totally inaccurate."
Yet by the time they tried to correct the record, the false claim had spread widely. In three days, the pseudonymous user’s claim amassed more than 63 million views on X, according to the platform’s metrics. A thorough explanation from Richer attracted a fraction of that, reaching 2.4 million users.
The incident sheds light on how social media accounts that shield the identities of the people or groups behind them through clever slogans and cartoon avatars have come to dominate right-wing political discussion online even as they spread false information.
The accounts enjoy a massive reach that is boosted by engagement algorithms, by social media companies greatly reducing or eliminating efforts to remove phony or harmful material, and by endorsements from high-profile figures such as Musk. They also can generate substantial financial rewards from X and other platforms by ginning up outrage against Democrats.
Many such internet personalities identify as patriotic citizen journalists uncovering real corruption. Yet their demonstrated ability to spread misinformation unchecked while disguising their true motives worries experts with the United States in a presidential election year.
They are exploiting a long history of trust in American whistleblowers and anonymous sources, said Samuel Woolley, director of the Propaganda Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin.
“With these types of accounts, there’s an allure of covertness, there’s this idea that they somehow might know something that other people don’t,” he said. “They’re co-opting the language of genuine whistleblowing or democratically inclined leaking. In fact what they’re doing is antithetical to democracy.”
The claim that spread online this past week misused Social Security Administration data tracking routine requests made by states to verify the identity of individuals who registered to vote using the last four digits of their Social Security number. These requests are often made multiple times for the same individual, meaning they do not necessarily correspond one-to-one with people registering to vote.
The larger implication is that the cited data represents people who entered the U.S. illegally and are supposedly registering to vote with Social Security numbers they received for work authorization documents. But only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections and illegal voting by those who are not is exceedingly rare because states have processes to prevent it.
Accounts that do not disclose the identities of those behind them have thrived online for years, gaining followers for their content on politics, humor, human rights and more. People have used anonymity on social media to avoid persecution by repressive authorities or to speak freely about sensitive experiences. Many left-wing protesters adopted anonymous online identities during the Occupy Wall Street movement of the early 2010s.
The meteoric rise of a group of right-wing pseudonymous influencers who act as alternative information sources has been more recent. It's coincided with a decline in public trust in government and media through the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
These influencers frequently spread misinformation and otherwise misleading content, often in service of the same recurring narratives such as alleged voter fraud, the “woke agenda” or Democrats supposedly encouraging a surge of people through illegal immigration to steal elections or replace whites. They often use similar content and reshare each other's posts.
The account that posted the recent misinformation also has spread bogus information about the Israel-Hamas war, sharing a post last fall that falsely claimed to show a Palestinian “crisis actor" pretending to be seriously injured.
Since his takeover of Twitter in 2022, Musk has nurtured the rise of these accounts, frequently commenting on their posts and sharing their content. He also has protected their anonymity. In March, X updated its privacy policy to ban people from exposing the identity of an anonymous user.
Musk also rewards high engagement with financial payouts. The X user who spread the false information about new voter registrants has racked up more than 2.4 million followers since joining the platform in 2022. The user, in a post last July, reported earning more than $10,000 from X's new creator ad revenue program. X did not respond to a request for comment, which was met with an automated reply.
Tech watchdogs said that while it’s critical to maintain spaces for anonymous voices online, they shouldn’t be allowed to spread lies without accountability.
“Companies must vigorously enforce terms of service and content policies that promote election integrity and information integrity generally,” said Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
The success of these accounts shows how financially savvy users have deployed the online trolling playbook to their advantage, said Dale Beran, a lecturer at Morgan State University and the author of “It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office.”
“The art of trolling is to get the other person enraged," he said. "And we now know getting someone enraged really fuels engagement and gives you followers and so will get you paid. So now it’s sort of a business.”
Some pseudonymous accounts on X have used their brands to build loyal audiences on other platforms, from Instagram to the video-sharing platform Rumble and the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. The accounts themselves — and many of their followers — publicly promote their pride in America and its founding documents.
It's concerning that many Americans place their trust in these shadowy online sources without thinking critically about who is behind them or how they may want to harm the country, said Kara Alaimo, a communications professor at Farleigh Dickinson University who has written about toxicity on social media.
“We know that foreign governments including China and Russia are actively creating social media accounts designed to sow domestic discord because they think weakening our social fabric gives their countries a competitive advantage," she said. "And they’re right.”
Facebook, Instagram users will start seeing labels on AI-generated images
Facebook and Instagram users will start seeing labels on AI-generated images that appear on their social media feeds, part of a broader tech industry initiative to sort between what’s real and not.
Meta said Tuesday it's working with industry partners on technical standards that will make it easier to identify images and eventually video and audio generated by artificial intelligence tools.
What remains to be seen is how well it will work at a time when it's easier than ever to make and distribute AI-generated imagery that can cause harm — from election misinformation to nonconsensual fake nudes of celebrities.
“It's kind of a signal that they’re taking seriously the fact that generation of fake content online is an issue for their platforms,” said Gili Vidan, an assistant professor of information science at Cornell University. It could be “quite effective” in flagging a large portion of AI-generated content made with commercial tools, but it won't likely catch everything, she said.
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Meta's president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, didn’t specify Tuesday when the labels would appear but said it will be “in the coming months” and in different languages, noting that a “number of important elections are taking place around the world.”
“As the difference between human and synthetic content gets blurred, people want to know where the boundary lies,” he said in a blog post.
Meta already puts an “Imagined with AI” label on photorealistic images made by its own tool, but most of the AI-generated content flooding its social media services comes from elsewhere.
A number of tech industry collaborations, including the Adobe-led Content Authenticity Initiative, have been working to set standards. A push for digital watermarking and labeling of AI-generated content was also part of an executive order that U.S. President Joe Biden signed in October.
Clegg said that Meta will be working to label “images from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and Shutterstock as they implement their plans for adding metadata to images created by their tools.”
Google said last year that AI labels are coming to YouTube and its other platforms.
Read: Samsung Electronics Chairman acquitted of financial crimes
"In the coming months, we’ll introduce labels that inform viewers when the realistic content they’re seeing is synthetic,” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan reiterated in a year-ahead blog post Tuesday.
One potential concern for consumers is if tech platforms get more effective at identifying AI-generated content from a set of major commercial providers but miss what's made with other tools, creating a false sense of security.
“There’s a lot that would hinge on how this is communicated by platforms to users,” said Cornell's Vidan. “What does this mark mean? With how much confidence should I take it? What is its absence supposed to tell me?”
Facebook and Instagram users in Europe could get ad-free subscription option, WSJ reports
Meta plans to give Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option of paying for ad-free versions of the social media platforms as a way to comply with the continent's strict data privacy rules, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The company wants to charge users about 10 euros ($10.50) a month to use Instagram or Facebook without ads on desktop browsers, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the proposal. Adding more accounts would cost 6 euros each.
Prices for mobile would be higher, at roughly 13 euros a month, because Meta needs to account for commissions charged by the Apple and Google app stores on in-app payments, the newspaper said.
Also read: Canada's government to stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram after Meta says it will block news
Meta reportedly is hoping to roll out paid subscriptions in the coming months as a way to comply with European Union data privacy rules that threaten its lucrative business model of showing personalized ads to users.
Meta would give users the choice between continuing to use the platforms with ads or paying for the ad-free version, the WSJ said.
"Meta believes in the value of free services which are supported by personalized ads," the company said in a statement to The Associated Press. "However, we continue to explore options to ensure we comply with evolving regulatory requirements. We have nothing further to share at this time."
Also read: Facebook’s importance as source of news sees significant decline in 2023: Reuters Institute Report
The EU's top court said in July that Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users — a ruling that jeopardizes the company's ability to make money by tailoring advertisements for individual users based on their online interests and digital activity.
It's not clear if EU regulators will sign off on the plan or insist that the company offer cheaper versions. The newspaper said one issue regulators have is whether the proposed fees will be too expensive for most people who don't want to be targeted by ads.
Also read: Facebook user data issue: Facebook parent company Meta will pay $725M
How to Increase Facebook Reach, Views Organically
Facebook is a crucial platform for businesses with a huge user base. However, there's a lot of content, and it's tough for algorithms to pick the right stuff quickly. Many businesses are competing for space in the news feed, making it hard to reach people naturally. To do well, focusing on attracting visitors is mandatory. Following the tips in this article can help you reach more people on Facebook.
Basic Strategies to Increase Facebook's Reach Organically
Tailor Your Content to Specific Audiences
Recognize the importance of meaningful interactions and adjust your posting approach accordingly. Always consider the specific users your post is targeting. Publish posts that you believe will be genuinely interesting and relevant to your intended audience. Whether or not a post is sponsored, you can target each of your posts on your business page to a specific audience.
Control Your Posting Frequency
The frequency of your Facebook posts is a crucial factor. Aim to post as often as possible while maintaining quality content. It's essential to keep your Facebook page active to foster growth. Avoid over-posting, as it can become annoying, and don't post so infrequently that your audience forgets about you. Hubspot's research suggests that for pages with fewer than 10,000 fans, engagement per post drops by 50% if you post more than once per day. Consider a guideline of one post per day or up to five posts per week.
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Encourage Audience Interaction
Publish content that sparks conversations among your audience. Facebook's algorithm takes note when a post generates a lot of discussion among a user's friends and may prioritize such posts. Content that people want to share and discuss with their friends holds value.
Time Your Posts for Maximum Impact
The recency of a post is crucial, as the newest posts appear at the top of users' news feeds. To maximize visibility and engagement, schedule your posts to coincide with your audience's online activity. According to Coschedule, the best times to post are between 1-4 pm, with specific time slots based on each weekday. Keep in mind that these times may vary depending on your followers' behavior patterns. You can use Hootsuite to obtain custom recommendations for the best posting times.
Share Longer Videos
Facebook's algorithm prioritizes videos based on watch time and completion rates. Focus on creating videos that capture your audience's attention and keep them engaged for longer durations, preferably over three minutes. Additionally, native videos receive a boost in reach.
Read more: How to Earn Money from Facebook
Leverage Your Top Advocates
Facebook prioritizes posts from person to person over those from pages to a person. Encourage your employees to post about your brand, as their content carries more credibility and authority with the algorithm due to their personal connections. Sharing your brand's posts on your personal timeline can also help improve visibility.
Avoid Engagement Baiting
Steer clear of engagement-baiting tactics, which involve creating posts designed to artificially boost engagement through likes, shares, comments, and other actions. These tactics can result in lower visibility, as Facebook demotes such posts. Examples include asking for reactions, comments, shares, tags, or votes.
Read more: How Do Social Media Influencers Make Money?
YouTube Video Script Writing: Some Effective Tips and Tricks
YouTube has become an efficient platform for sharing ideas, entertaining audiences, and educating viewers on various topics. But creating a successful YouTube video involves more than just pressing the record button. A well-crafted script is the backbone of any compelling video, guiding the creator's message and ensuring a coherent and engaging delivery. Let’s take a look into the process of writing an effective YouTube video script that captivates your audience and keeps them coming back for more.
Why is Scriptwriting Necessary to Make an Effective Youtube Video?
A quality script can do more than just simplify the content creation process. Here are some reasons why aspiring YouTubers should dedicate time to scriptwriting.
Enhanced Content Quality
A skillfully crafted script enhances the video's quality by ensuring the content's structure is well-arranged and the message is lucid. With a clear plan in place, content creators can allocate more time to developing top-notch visuals, refining edits, and other aspects of video production, all while being confident in the meticulousness of their content.
Elevated Engagement
Through a solid script, creators can maintain viewer engagement and interest throughout the video, improving viewer retention rates. By pre-planning the content, creators can guarantee an engaging pace and a presentation style that facilitates effortless comprehension and assimilation of information.
Read more: YouTube Explainer Videos: Ways to Make Money While Sharing Knowledge
Consistency Amplification
A proficient script ensures channel content consistency with a recurring series or thematic approach, resulting in a more devoted and engaged viewership. By pre-meditating content, creators can ensure that messaging and content delivery remain in harmony with past videos within the series or aligned with the overarching theme of the channel.
Time-Efficient Approach
An effective script streamlines the filming process for creators by offering a comprehensive guide to what needs to be captured and when. This contributes to an efficient filming process and empowers creators to generate high-calibre content promptly.
Augmented Professionalism
A meticulously composed script bestows a sense of professionalism and refinement upon the video, leading to a more favourable overall impression on viewers. By pre-planning content and presenting it coherently and succinctly, creators can demonstrate their commitment to delivering high-value content, ultimately conveying their dedication to producing content of the highest quality.
Read more: How to Protect Your YouTube Channel from Getting Hacked
Required Competencies to Be an Efficient Script Writer
A path in screenwriting might be your destined route. The realm of screenwriting can offer an exhilarating and rewarding career if you possess a genuine passion for it. Discover the key aptitudes that every aspiring screenwriter should cultivate before making your YouTube Videos:
Passion
A passion for your craft is not only pivotal for any vocation but finds amplified significance in the realm of prospective screenwriters. It can revel in the enchantment of attracting experiences and narratives. Screenwriting entails more than the mechanics of script composition; it is a study of the art form, entailing an authentic appreciation for its nuances.
Persistence
Crafting an exceptional screenplay is a formidable undertaking. The screenwriter's path is laden with hurdles such as creative impasses, external discouragement, and the shifting tides of genre trends and concepts. Throughout this journey, a screenwriter must surmount these obstacles, defying the forces that seek to thwart their progress and resolutely pursue their aspirations. A solitary "yes" amid a sea of "no's" can prove transformative.
Flexibility
The life of a YouTube screenwriter demands adaptability across all facets. The writing process, critiques, troubleshooting – each domain necessitates nimbleness. Challenges like technical constraints, availability of sources of elements, and subject material shifts can lead to script-related exigencies.
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Notwithstanding these upheavals, the ultimate objective remains consistent: delivering impeccable content. You can transcend these challenges by persevering, embracing feedback, harnessing your vision, and exercising patience. Cultivating this flexibility is paramount.
Knowledge
A substantial component of this endeavour is immersing yourself in script reading. By engaging with scripts, you absorb the language of screenwriting, grasp distinct attributes and structures, and enhance your craft.
Fully immerse yourself in the realm of screenwriting. Attend workshops and seminars, devour literature, devour podcasts, and engage with video content. Every nugget of insight is invaluable, and its relevance might emerge unexpectedly in the future.
Consistency
Consistency reigns supreme in the realm of content creation. As a wordsmith, you'll grapple with deadlines and time-sensitive obligations. The temporal canvas might range from ample expanses to brief windows. Regardless, punctuality in submission is non-negotiable.
Read more: Best Educational YouTube Channels for Children
Numerous techniques and tools, aiding organisation and surmounting creative blocks, await your utilisation as deadlines approach. Nurturing a reputation of dependability is indispensable; hone the skill of preemptively tackling deadlines to prepare for future challenges.
Perpetual Writing
The process is familiar: a surge of inspiration births a captivating concept, only to encounter an obstacle that halts your progress. Perplexity prevails, leading you to abandon the endeavour. This cycle, though understandable, should not be a reason to cease your efforts.
Perfection eludes every initial draft; refinement and repetition are constants. Establishing daily page quotas, like completing five pages each day can help. Interjecting breaks during writing to recharge your mental faculties will also work on your behalf. The next time your creative flow falters, remember that even the most remarkable screenplay you've encountered embarked on its journey as a less-than-stellar initial draft.
Read more: How to Increase YouTube subscribers for free
Musk says Twitter is losing cash because advertising is down and the company is carrying heavy debt
Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half.
In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”
“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he concluded.
Ever since he took over Twitter in a $44 billion deal last fall, Musk has tried to reassure advertisers who were concerned about the ouster of top executives, widespread layoffs and a different approach to content moderation. Some high-profile users who had been banned were allowed back on the site.
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In April, Musk said most of the advertisers who left had returned and that the company might become cash-flow positive in the second quarter.
In May, he hired a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an NBCUniversal executive with deep ties to the advertising industry.
But since then, Twitter has upset some users by imposing new limits on how many tweets they can view in a day, and some users complained that they were locked out of the site. Musk said the restrictions were needed to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data.
Read: Skoot-Walton to work on production of high-tech e-bikes
Twitter got a new competitor this month when Facebook owner Meta launched a text-focused app, Threads, and gained tens of millions of sign-ups in a few days. Twitter responded by threatening legal action.
'Clone' or competitor? Users and lawyers compare Twitter and Threads
Just how similar is Instagram's chatty new app, Threads, to Twitter?
In a cease-and-desist letter earlier this week, Twitter threatened legal action against Instagram parent company Meta over the new text-based app Threads, which it called a "copycat."
Threads has drawn tens of millions of users since launching as the latest rival to Elon Musk's social media platform.
Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over Threads: Report
Threads creators pushed back on the accusations, and legal experts note that much is still unknown. For now, "it's sort of a big question mark," Jacob Noti-Victor, an associate professor at Yeshiva University's Cardozo Law School who specializes in intellectual property, told The Associated Press.
The people starting to explore Threads, however, are already making their own observations.
"People are calling it a Twitter clone but I think there are some key product differences," said Alexandra Popken, Twitter's former head of trust and safety operations.
One difference, she thinks, will likely be the people who use it. At Threads, "you're essentially taking your audience from Instagram and putting this into a new text-based app, whereas Twitter is a kind of a niche audience for politicians, celebrities and news junkies," she said.
Yet even though Threads makers have said they aren't particularly interested in making it a politics forum, it's likely to attract journalists and politicians, among others, looking for a Twitter alternative.
What is Threads? All your questions about Meta's new Twitter rival, answered
Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri, said Threads isn't aiming to replace Twitter.
"The goal is to create a public square for communities on Instagram that never really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not all of Twitter," he said.
Politics and hard news will inevitably show up on Threads, he acknowledged, "but we're not going to do anything to encourage those verticals."
In a Wednesday letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app.
In a reply to a tweet about the possibility of legal action against Meta, Musk wrote: "Competition is fine, cheating is not."
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded in a Threads post Thursday that "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee."
Meta unveils Threads, targeting users looking for an alternative to Twitter
From Spiro's letter, which was first obtained by news outlet Semafor on Thursday, Noti-Victor said it's hard to tell what the trade secrets referred to might be.
Spiro says ex-Twitter employees "improperly retained" company documents and electronic devices — pointing to ongoing confidentiality obligations. There was no explicit reference, however, to a breach of any binding agreement in the letter, and most noncompete clauses, for example, are prohibited in California.
In addition, despite Threads' similarities to Twitter, "just the idea of creating a social media platform involving text (is) certainly not something that would be a trade secret," Noti-Victor added.
He is skeptical of intellectual property violations for similar reasons, noting that companies "can't patent something that's obvious" or copyright a general idea for a social media platform. Copyright can protect source code and the text of a website, but Noti-Victor said he doesn't see that reproduced in Threads.
Experts add that companies in Silicon Valley are constantly making products or services inspired by competitors' versions.
Meta is set to take on Twitter with a rival app called Threads
"The industry has a storied past of borrowing ideas from each other," said Popken, adding that Threads and other platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky are "trying to capitalize on what is demand for a suitable, safer alternative to Twitter."
Meta has a track record of starting standalone apps that mirror competitors, although many later shut down.
Beyond trade secret and intellectual property allegations, Spiro also wrote that Meta is prohibited from "engaging in any crawling or scraping of Twitter's followers or following data." He said the letter marked a "formal notice" for Meta to preserve documents relevant for a potential dispute between the companies.
Any letter of this kind should be taken seriously, said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond's School of Law — but he, too, added that much is still unknown. More specific allegations and documents could come forward if litigation is pursued.
Tobias speculated that Twitter's move could be partly about publicity, as well as a strategic response both legally and business-wise. Musk's legal team has made similar moves before, such as a May letter to Microsoft objecting to alleged misuse of Twitter data to train artificial intelligence systems.
Among those elevating the clone-or-not question this week was Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who has championed Bluesky, and joked in a tweet: "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 7 Twitter clones."
For Popken, who now works at content moderation startup WebPurify, what most stands out about Threads so far is how much fun she's having using it.
"I see brands like Slim Jim trying to be funny. I see influencers who I follow on Instagram and people who I care about in my life," she said. "There's like this period of time where the bad actors haven't found it yet. It's like this non-toxic, happy corner of the internet."
But "make no mistake," she added, those content moderation problems that have plagued other platforms "will certainly strike Threads over time."
Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over Threads: Report
Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new, text-based app called Threads, according to a letter obtained by Semafor.
In a Wednesday letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app.
Since launching Threads Wednesday night, Meta's new app has collected tens of millions of sign ups. The app, which was created by the company's Instagram team, arrives at a time when many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk's raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for $44 billion.
Also read: What is Threads? All your questions about Meta's new Twitter rival, answered
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the report of Spiro's letter on Threads Thursday afternoon, writing, "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing."
In the letter, which Semafor first reported on Thursday, Spiro said that Twitter "intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights" — and noted the company's right to seek civil remedies or injunctive relief. He added that the letter marked a "formal notice" for Meta to preserve documents relevant for a potential dispute between the companies.
The Associated Press reached out to Spiro and Twitter on Thursday for further information. Twitter responded to an email seeking comment with a poop emoji, its standard automated response to reporters.
Musk hasn't directly tweeted about the possibility of legal action, but he has replied to several snarky takes on the Threads launch. The Twitter owner responded to one tweet suggesting that Meta's app was built largely through the use of the copy and paste function, with a laughing emoji.
Also read: Meta unveils Threads, targeting users looking for an alternative to Twitter
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has also not publicly commented on Wednesday's letter, but seemingly appeared to address Threads' launch in a Thursday tweet.
"We're often imitated -- but the Twitter community can never be duplicated," Yaccarino wrote.
Still, some analysts say Meta's new app could be a significant headache for Twitter — pointing to the excitement surrounding Threads' launch and impressive download numbers so far.
Success for the app isn't guaranteed, of course. Industry watchers point to Meta's track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down, for example, and note that Threads is still in its early days — so time will tell.
Also read: Meta is set to take on Twitter with a rival app called Threads
Meta's new app has also raised data privacy concerns. While Threads launched in more than 100 countries Wednesday, it is notably unavailable in the European Union, which has strict data privacy rules.
What is Threads? All your questions about Meta's new Twitter rival, answered
Threads, a text-based app built by Meta to rival Twitter, is now live.
The app, billed as the text version of Meta's photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users in more than 100 countries — including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite some early glitches, 30 million people had signed up before noon on Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Threads.
New arrivals to the platform include celebrities like Oprah, pop star Shakira and chef Gordon Ramsay — as well as corporate accounts from Taco Bell, Netflix, Spotify, the Washington Post and other media outlets.
Also read: Meta unveils Threads, targeting users looking for an alternative to Twitter
Threads, which Meta says provides "a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations," arrives at a time when many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk's raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for $44 billion. But Meta's new app has also raised data privacy concerns, and is notably unavailable in the European Union.
Here's what you need to know about Threads.
HOW CAN I USE THREADS?
Threads is now available for download in Apple and Google Android app stores for people in more than 100 countries.
Threads was built by the Instagram team, so Instagram users can log into Threads through their Instagram account. Your username and verification status will carry over, according to the platform, but you will also have options to customize other areas of your profile — including whether or not you want to follow the same people that you do on Instagram.
Because Threads and Instagram are so closely linked, it's also important to be cautious of account deletion. According to Threads' supplemental privacy policy, you can deactivate your profile at any time, "but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account."
CAN I USE THREADS IF I DON'T HAVE AN INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT?
For now, only Instagram users can create Threads accounts. If you want to access Threads, you will have to sign up for Instagram first.
While this may receive some pushback, VP and research director at Forrester Mike Proulx said making Threads an extension of Instagram was a smart move on Meta's part.
"It's piquing (user) curiosity," Proulx said, noting that Instagram users are getting alerts about their followers joining Threads — causing more and more people to sign up. "That's one of the reasons why Threads got over 10 million people to sign up in just a seven hour period" after launching.
Still, Proulx added, maintaining momentum and continuing to capture user attention past the initial curiosity bump will be crucial down the line — noting "the long term nature of threads is what's going to ultimately predict its success or failure."
HOW IS THREADS SIMILAR TO TWITTER?
Threads' microblogging experience is very similar to Twitter. Users can repost, reply to or quote a thread, for example, and can see the number of likes and replies that a post has received. "Threads" can run up to 500 characters — compared with Twitter's 280-character threshold — and can include links, photos and videos up to five minutes long.
Also read: TikTok and 5 content creators ask federal judge to block Montana from banning app
In early replies on Threads, Zuckerberg said making the app "a friendly place" will be a key to success — adding that that was "one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have, and we want to do it differently."
IS TWITTER SEEKING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST META?
According to a letter obtained by Semafor on Thursday, Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over Threads. In the letter, which was addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and dated Wednesday, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a "copycat" app.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the report of Spiro's letter on Threads Thursday afternoon, writing, "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee."
Also read: Meta is set to take on Twitter with a rival app called Threads
Musk hasn't directly tweeted about the possibility of legal action, but he has replied to several snarky takes on the Threads launch. The Twitter owner responded to one tweet suggesting that Meta's app was built largely through the use of the copy and paste function, with a laughing emoji.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has also not publicly commented on Wednesday's letter, but seemingly appeared to address Threads' launch in a Thursday tweet — writing that "the Twitter community can never be duplicated."
HASN'T THIS BEEN DONE BEFORE?
The similarities of Meta's new text-based app suggests that the company is working to directly challenge Twitter. The tumultuous ownership has resulted in a series of unpopular changes that have turned off users and advertisers, some of whom are searching for Twitter alternatives.
Threads is the latest Twitter rival to emerge in this landscape following Bluesky, Mastodon and Spill.
HOW DOES THREADS MODERATE CONTENT?
According to Meta, Threads will use the same safety measures deployed on Instagram — which includes enforcing Instagram's community guidelines and providing tools to control who can mention or reply to users.
Also read: Elon Musk imposes daily limits on reading posts on Twitter
Content warnings — on search queries ranging from conspiracy theory groups to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations — also appear to be similar to Instagram.
WHAT ARE THE 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.
Threads also isn't available in the European Union right now, which has strict data privacy rules.
Also read: Cage fight: Musk, Zuckerberg both up for face-off
Meta informed Ireland's Data Privacy Commission, Meta's main privacy regulator for the EU, that it has no plans yet to launch Threads in the 27-nation bloc, commission spokesman Graham Doyle said. The company said it is working on rolling the app out to more countries — but pointed to regulatory uncertainty for its decision to hold off on a European launch.
WHATS THE FUTURE FOR THREADS?
Success for Threads is far from guaranteed. Industry watchers point to Meta's track record of starting standalone apps that were later shut down — including an Instagram messaging app also called "Threads" that shut down less than two years after its 2019 launch, Proulx notes.
Still, Proulx and others say the new app could be a significant headache for Musk and Twitter.
"The euphoria around a new service and this initial explosion will probably settle down. But it is apparent that this alternative is here to stay and will prove to be a worthy rival given all of Twitter's woes," technology analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said, noting that combining Twitter-style features with Instagram's look and feel could drive user engagement.
Also read: A ‘vast paedophile network’ connected by Instagram's algorithms, says WSJ report
Threads is in its early days, however, and much depends on user feedback. Pescatore believes the close tie between Instagram and Threads might not resonate with everyone. The rollout of new features will also be key.
"The real test is not if we can build up a lot of hype, but if you all find enough value in the app to keep using it over time," Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote Thursday in a Threads post. He also acknowledged, as many users have already done, that there are "tons of basics" missing, including hashtags and direct messaging between users. "Full disclosure, it'll take time."
Wish you could tweak that text? WhatsApp is letting users edit messages
Wish you could reword that snarky text message you just sent?
WhatsApp is allowing users to do just that, for up to 15 minutes after they send a message. The popular chat app announced in a blog post Monday that users can correct misspellings, add more details or otherwise change what they have sent to friends, family and coworkers.
The ability to edit messages has started rolling out to people worldwide and will be available to all users in coming weeks, according to the company owned by Facebook parent Meta.
Read more: Encrypted video calls with up to 8, audio calls with up to 32 people on WhatsApp: Zuckerberg
To fix a text, press and hold the sent message and pick "edit." After the changes, it will then display "edited," but those receiving the message won't be able to see the edit history, WhatsApp says.
Apple last year revealed the ability to edit and unsend iMessages between iPhones in a system upgrade. Those on the receiving end see that a message was unsent and the edit history, the company said.