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Key Takeaways
- More than five months after launching in the US, Threads is now available in the EU.
- Meta reportedly delayed the launch due to regulatory uncertainty related to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
- The social media giant had concerns about how the DMA’s data mixing rules would impact its ability to target ads, but recent changes may have addressed those issues.
With Threads, Meta has sought to fill the vacuum left by Elon Musk’s takeover of X, the social network previously known as Twitter, but limited availability has slowed those ambitions. Previously only available in the US, UK, and other select countries across the globe, Meta reportedly delayed releasing Threads in the European Union to ensure the app would be in compliance with the bloc’s upcoming Digital Markets Act. Now, more than five months later, the app is available to those who live in EU member states.
While the UK famously left the EU as part of Brexit, there are still some notable countries that have yet to take Threads for a spin, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and others, but that all changes as of today, December 14. Now, Threads is available to hundreds of millions more potential users, something that could help propel the Instagram-aligned network to new heights. That’s certainly what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri will be hoping, anyway.
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As mentioned, the likely reason Meta waited to bring Threads to the EU was Digital Markets Act, or DMA. There was regulatory uncertainty surrounding whether Threads would meet the EU’s requirements. It was ultimately decided that it wouldn’t launch there, rather than risk a launch that would be marred by subsequent investigations and a potential ban.
Specifically, Meta and Instagram were reportedly worried regarding DMA rules around the mixing of data collected by a parent company’s various sub-entities. In this case, there were concerns about the way Meta, Instagram, and Threads were linked, especially considering that Threads required an Instagram account in order to be accessed.
The mixing of data is, of course, where Meta makes its money, combining information it collects across a variety of services into one giant pool of targeted ad-feeding bits and bytes.
It’s still early days for Threads in the EU, and it isn’t yet clear what has changed to allow it to launch there, but Meta has been unpicking Threads and Instagram of late. Users can now delete their Threads profile without losing their Instagram account, and EU-based users can browse Threads without a profile at all, too — though you can’t post and interact with content without an account.
For now, all eyes will be on Threads to see how the EU arrival impacts its user base. There are key differences between Threads and X, but the target audience is the same — people who want to share short messages and media with other people, and right now, it’s game on.
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