Threads Europe: Twitter rival set to launch in EU this week

December 13, 2023

`Threads Europe: Twitter rival set to launch in EU this week`

Threads – Meta’s Twitter competitor – is slated to launch in Europe this week.

After its launch in the US and UK earlier this year, Threads will finally be made available to social media users in the EU on December 14. Threads opted not to release a formal statement about the launch instead choosing to create a countdown timer on their website.

European Union (EU) Instagram users can also 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 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 open to European countries.