Meta's Threads: Instagram owner to launch Twitter alternative

Days after Twitter CEO Elon Musk drew flak for placing a temporary limit on the number of messages users can read on the social media platform, Meta Platforms (META.O) announced plans to introduce Threads, a microblogging software that competes with Twitter.

According to a listing on Apple's (AAPL.O) App Store, Threads, which is scheduled to be live on Thursday, will let users keep the same username and their Instagram followers.

The launch poses a direct challenge to Twitter, which has been involved in various issues ever since Musk paid $44 billion for the firm in 2022.

A number of users on the platform expressed outrage when the Tesla billionaire last week announced a series of new limits on the program, including a cap on the number of tweets users may view each day.

Mastodon and Blue Sky, two rival microblogging platforms, have witnessed an increase in users since Musk bought them, but neither has been able to overtake Twitter.

However, Instagram has a history of adding new features based on the success of other social media companies and already has hundreds of millions of users who have enrolled.

In reaction to the growing popularity of Snapchat, it added a feature called "stories" to Instagram in 2016. Stories are user uploads that vanish after a certain period of time.

The business's short-form video component "Reels" has aimed to counter the growth of TikTok more recently.

Threads' debut poses a serious threat to Twitter under Musk, whose efforts to increase profits and remake the network in his own image have drawn harsh criticism.

He fired almost 80% of the workers after buying the business late last year and allowed several previously banned accounts to reappear, including that of former US President Donald Trump and the conservative satirical news site Babylon Bee.