Meta’s Threads EU launch scheduled for December – WSJ

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta plans a December launch of its X-alternative, Threads, in the EU, the Wall Street Journal reports.

While other major markets saw the launch of Threads last July, Meta was hesitant to enter the European Union, due to the block‘s strict privacy regulations. To appease Brussels, Meta will allow EU-based users to use the social network without registering an account, a source familiar with the matter told WSJ.

Cybernews has reached out to Meta for confirmation but we did no immediately receive a response.

The move could be a sign that the app needs more people. Yes, it signed up 100 million users in less than five days since launch, but the app has been unraveling, and fast. Threads has seen its engagement drop by 79% to just 576,000 daily active users, following its peak of 2.3 million in early July.

The app may still have a better chance of becoming the new Twitter than some other alternatives. But Threads needs to provide users with more reasons to keep coming back, Cybernews wrote recently.

Meta's push to finally enter 450 million-strong EU market comes amidst Elon Musk falling out with major advertisers.

A dozen major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, IBM, and others, have now paused advertising on X after Musk replied to a post sharing a conspiracy theory that accused Jewish communities of pushing hatred against white people, calling it the "actual truth."

Earlier this week, Musk told advertisers that have fled his social media platform to "Go f**k yourself." His profanity-laced remarks followed a moment of contrition in a New York Times DealBook Summit interview.

Threads' data collection problem

While lauded as an alternative to the controversy-plagued Twitter, Threads comes with its own bag of issues. Earlier this year researchers concluded that Threads is the worst social site for protecting user privacy.

To determine which platforms excel in safeguarding personal information and which apps fall disappointingly short, researchers assessed data collection, user control, security, and user experience patterns for different applications.

The results were stunning – and damning to Meta. Its ecosystem, which includes Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and Messenger, collects the most user data for advertising and marketing purposes. They track an astonishing 86% of personal information.

This is a developing story. We will update it once more details are avaliable.