Two days and 50 million subscribers down, and to call the launch of Mark Zuckerberg’s new social media platform Threads eventful would be an understatement.
Billed as the Twitter killer, the blue bird app’s commander-in-chief Elon Musk, who also happens to be the world’s richest man, made no delays in filing a lawsuit against Zuck’s company Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) on grounds of intellectual property theft.
???????????? Twitter sues #Meta for hiring dozens of former Twitter employees to build a "copycat"! pic.twitter.com/5bSACtHTsq
— Terror Alarm (@Terror_Alarm) July 6, 2023
It seems as though Musk and Zuck’s rumoured rumble in the Las Vegas Octagon has spilled over to the digital realm.
But what does social media think of all this?
I’d be careful in taking his financial advice, but Youtuber and licenced financial advisor Meet Kevin summed it up pretty well when he Tweeted: “So Musk paid $44 billion for something Mark Zuckerberg just copy and pasted without the baggage?”
So Musk paid $44 billion for something Mark Zuckerberg just copy and pasted without the baggage?
— Meet Kevin (@realMeetKevin) July 6, 2023
Fintwit favourites litquidity seemed to be revelling a bout of schadenfreude at the prospect of Twitter investors facing a full-on wipeout.
— litquidity (@litcapital) July 6, 2023
One of the most contentious aspects of Threads is undoubtedly parent company Meta’s propensity for censorship and rigid moderation. These concerns weren’t lost on the masses.
The amount of user data being collected by threads is insane.
They now have access to your text messages, financial data, health and fitness data, “sensitive info”, and more.
I know this is somewhat normal for social media apps, but this much data seems unnecessary and an… pic.twitter.com/MwIOFQAXOA
— John Pompliano (@JohnPompliano) July 7, 2023
Though by the looks of it, some users don’t see this as a negative.
At the end of the day, Threads is just another social media platform. Its staying power will rely on the quality of content that the app attracts, as elucidated by popular parody account thearchbishopofbanterbury.
Donald Trump has yet to make an appearance (and it’s unclear whether he’s allowed into the club), but Trump Jr. took to Twitter to berate Instagram influencers whom, reckons Jr, aren’t cut out for text-based communication.
Threads not exactly off to a great start. Hey Instagram, threads is verbal, so the whole skimpy bikini thing is not going to work so well if your influencers can’t actually formulate a sentence… IMHO you may want to rethink cutting off those who can. pic.twitter.com/vBKIOjg8Z8
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 6, 2023
Just make sure to dress accordingly, reckons memezar.
Much of the narrative around Threads has been about making an alternative to the oft-times toxic Twitter community.
Zuck, too, appears to be in the midst of a personal rebrand after years of acting like an automaton.
“Zucc’s real flex is how much time he spends with his family, despite hitting over 30 million user signups this morning,” noted one user.
Zucc’s real flex is how much time he spends with his family, despite hitting over 30 million user signups this morning pic.twitter.com/q16Sma4Aka
— Avi (@AviSchiffmann) July 6, 2023