We finally have a release date for Threads in France! Meta ended up complying with European regulations, which allows it to offer its new social network on the Old Continent. The countdown begins !
The wait is coming to an end! Threads, the platform which takes the network codes from Twitter while relying on Instagram and on decentralized servers (see our article), is finally arriving in France! After a fanfare launch on July 6, with 50 million users in the space of a single day – a record that many new products would like to reach – then 100 million the following week, the number of active users at daily had decreased by 20%while time spent in the app had declined, from an average of just 20 minutes per day in the app to 10 minutes, according to the CNBC. But it was above all its massive collection of personal data which was enough to dampen certain enthusiasm. And in addition to sucking up all the users’ personal data, it could not be deleted without making their Instagram account disappear (see our article). It is also because Threads did not comply with European legislation on this subject that Meta had not officially launched it in France.
But our patient will soon be rewarded! Website page of the platform displays to European Internet users a countdown whose time will expire on December 14. A clue was also found on Instagram by 9to5google. So, by typing “ticket” in the search bar of the social network, a sort of white ticket with the Threads logo appears. It turns around to show a launch date for the app in Europe, namely December 14 at noon. According to the Wall Street Journal, Threads should be freely accessible, including for those who do not have a Meta account – but you will need to create a Threads account to publish messages. Last November, Meta also released an update that allows you to block the display of your posts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as delete your Threads account without having to say goodbye to your Instagram account. Enough to allow it to gain some 40 million additional users, according to observers, who will be added to the 100 million already registered.
Threads: a social network unavailable in Europe
As a reminder, the discovery for French Internet users of the Meta microblogging platform lasted only 10 days. On July 14, European users had the unpleasant surprise of finding that Threads feeds were no longer loading and that it was impossible to post new messages, like a post, follow an account, etc. In addition, using a VPN to change your location did not allow you to circumvent this malfunction. So, platform bug or European blockage? Meta had confirmed with our colleagues at Techcrunch having taken additional measures to prevent European users from accessing the social network. It was therefore not a question of geographic blocking based on an IP address, but carried out from the country of origin of the Instagram account used to create the Threads account.
“Threads is currently not available in most countries in Europe, and we have taken additional steps to prevent people based in Europe from accessing it at this time”, explained the firm. The company wanted to wait for the official launch of its new platform on the Old Continent in due form, in order not to have problems with European legislation, which is stricter regarding the exploitation of user data, particularly with regard to with respect to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA). Meta nevertheless wanted to be reassuring, recalling that “Europe continues to be an incredibly important market for Meta and we hope to make Threads available here in the future”. We still had to wait many months before the application showed up again!
Threads: intensive and abusive exploitation of data
For now, Threads is officially available in around 100 countries, but not in the European Union – so it is impossible to find the app on the official app stores, Play Store and App Store. This is due to the fact that the new platform imports a lot of data from Instagram and requires – too many – many authorizations. Thus, it allows it to import users’ personal data relating to health, their financial information, their browsing histories, their location, their shopping list, their contacts, their search history and other sensitive information. In short, as it stands, it does not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) nor the new digital markets regulation (DMA), which came into force at the beginning of May, which imposes specific rules on key Internet companies. – notably Meta – to avoid anti-competitive practices.
In addition, some Internet users had the unpleasant surprise of discovering that theDeleting their Threads account also meant deleting the Instagram account linked to it. “You can deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account”, could we read in the Meta help center. According to the company, the Threads profile was an integral part of the Instagram account. Better and better ! She still ended up making it possible. Now just go to Settings > Account > Delete or deactivate profile > Delete.