Untangling Threads

General Studies Paper 3

CONTEXT

• Multiple outages plagued the platform while billionaire owner Elon Musk cited data scraping by other organisations as his reason for limiting the number of tweets both paying and non-paying accounts could view every day. In response to complaints,

THE THREADS

• Launched by Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp-parent Meta on July 5, Threads is a text-based public conversation app that was built by the team behind the photo-sharing app Instagram.
• Both iOS and Android users in over 100 countries could access the app this week.

WORKING

• Threads is part of a user’s Instagram account.
• Threads users will need to sign up through Instagram, and can cross over with their original username and the accounts they were following on Instagram. A number of settings such as blocking, restricting users, and hiding words are synced between the two platforms.
• However, if a user decides they don’t like Threads, they can only deactivate the account.
• Deleting Threads would mean deleting their Instagram account as well.
• There are also plans to let users choose to see only the accounts they follow. There is also no way to privately message others on Threads yet.
• According to Google’s Play Store, Threads can collect data such as a user’s location, their personal information, financial information, health and fitness, messages, photos and videos, files and documents, calendar events, and more.

SIMILARITY BETWEEN THREADS AND TWITTER

• Threads is similar to Twitter in terms of its user interface and basic features.
• Threads users can make posts and comment in response. They can also heart posts, repost and quote them, or share posts on Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms.
• News organisations and other professionals often rely on Twitter for instant updates and official statements or comments.
• However, Threads does not yet support the keyword searches which are necessary for these users. Threads also does not display trends in the way Twitter does.
• Threads does not have advertisements yet. It remains to be seen how the platform will evolve in response to user and advertiser demands.

CONCERNS

• Meta’s Threads app, designed to provide a platform for discussions and community engagement, is currently not being launched in the EU.
• The company’s decision stems from regulatory concerns regarding compliance with the DMA, a framework introduced to address the dominance of large digital platforms and ensure fair competition within the digital market.

UNDERSTANDING THE DIGITAL MARKETS ACT

• It applies to the ‘gatekeepers’ in the online space. These companies will have to comply with the new rules.
• The Digital Markets Act (DMA) entered into force in the European Union (EU) on November 1 2022.
• It introduces quantitative thresholds and penal provisions to keep a check on large digital platforms.
• It opens up possibilities of an equal market – based on the merits of their products and services.
• As for consumers it ensures access to a wider array of options as well as a lower price of services by enforcing competition and de-exclusivities.
• The Act designates companies with sizeable dominance in any of the ‘core platform services’ as ‘gatekeepers’.
• These services include app stores, online search engines, social networking services, certain messaging services, video sharing platform services, virtual assistants, web browsers, cloud computing services, operating systems, online marketplaces and advertising services.

CONCLUSION

• With the new evolving apps it is not only for the individuals but even for the enterprises – social media policies must be used and prepared, and third-party experts must be hired to monitor their employees’ online activities.
• When somebody has access to an individual’s social media accounts, the potential for abuse and invasion of privacy is simply too high.
• The use of social media can reveal information that may lead to privacy violations if not properly managed by the user which could have a devastating impact for the employer.