Warning: don't sign up to Meta's Threads before reading this

There's a few things you might want to be aware of before you rush to sign up to Threads

(Credit: Meta)

Meta’s Twitter rival, Threads, is now live in the US and UK, and millions of people have already signed up for Mark Zuckerberg’s latest brainchild/clone in the hopes it will become the social media haven they’ve been praying for.

However, before you rush out and jump on the bandwagon, there are a few things you might want to be aware of before you start posting on Threads.

Privacy concerns

First of all, as I already highlighted in my article where I said “I’d rather pay for Twitter Blue than sign up for Instagram’s Threads”, Meta doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to data and privacy – and that’s putting it lightly.

As Meta makes it abundantly clear on the App Store page for Threads, you’ll be surrendering almost every piece of personal information possible if you sign up, including your usage data, contact info, financial info, health & fitness, browsing history, location, and sensitive info.

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Threads warning

• 🆕 Threads is now available in the US and UK

• 🐦 It’s Meta’s take on Twitter and is part of Instagram

• 🤔 However, concerns over privacy and accounts should be highlighted

• ❗️ It can be easy to get sucked into the hype, but make sure you know what you’re signing up for

You may have noticed that Threads is only available in the US and the UK. And that’s because it’s been deemed a privacy nightmare and clashes with legal rulings in the EU, which fined Meta $410m for breaching privacy laws earlier this year. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

‘Hold this Thread as I walk away’ -Weezer

If privacy isn’t something you care about, perhaps this may give you pause for thought. While you can always delete individual posts on Threads, similar to Twitter, if you want to delete your Threads profile and data in the future you’ll need to delete your Instagram account. That’s quite a commitment to make and means you’re essentially locked in.

Threads will also commit the same sins as Instagram has been criticized for in the past: it won’t just show you posts from people you follow, but instead, you’ll see content from whatever Meta’s algorithm thinks you want to see. That’s different from Twitter where you can at least choose whether to use the ‘For you’ tab to see recommended content or the ‘Following’ tab to only see posts from people you care about.

While Twitter isn’t perfect by any means, Threads isn’t the paradise some people are already making it out to be. So before you create a Threads account, mostly due to the fear of missing out or because your friends have already jumped ship, you might want to think twice. Sometimes it’s better the devil you know.