Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter which is expected to launch tomorrow in South Africa and other regions, won’t launch in the EU this week. While details are scarce regarding its reasoning, it might be due to Irish Data Protection Commission getting in the way.
According to the App Store, Threads scrapes a lot of personal information from users when in the app. The usual Meta policies apply which means things like browsing history, location data, health and fitness, financial information, usage data, search history and loads of other data linked to you are shared with the Meta.
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The EU has quite strict laws when it comes to user data protection. So much so that apps like Threads which require user consent to this level, often get blocked in the region.
The Irish Data Protection Commission claims that it has been in contact with Meta and decided not to launch the app in the EU “at this point”. However, the Commission claims that it has not banned the app but says Meta has not created an EU-friendly version of the app which complies with the EU and GDPR rules.
So when Meta gets an EU-friendly version of the app ready, it will likely roll out in the region without an issue. How long this will take is unclear but Meta has successfully launched other apps with the same data collection in the past.
Threads is expected to launch tomorrow. The app is a direct clone of Twitter allowing users to share instant updates, photos and videos with followers. The launch coincides with Twitter’s ongoing and controversial tweet limit restrictions which the company implemented over the weekend. It prevents users from seeing more than 1000 tweets each day depending on their profile.
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