Almost a year after its launch, Meta Platforms Inc's (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB) Threads has reached 175 million monthly active users, indicating it still has some way to go if it wants to challenge other social media platforms.
Threads was released in July 2023 as an attempt to take advantage of the turbulence created by Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter/X, after he cut staff, changed its verification system and slashed content moderation in a bid to allow "absolutely free speech".
Meta aimed to seize the opportunity, using the momentum of boss Mark Zuckerberg's rivalry with Musk, which led to talks of a cage fight between the two, to help place Threads as a challenger to X.
Musk even threatened to launch legal action against Meta when the app was released.
Recent data showed X/Twitter has over 368 million monthly active users worldwide, while TikTok's number is reported at 1.04 billion, and Thread's older siblings Instagram and Facebook said to have monthly active user numbers around 2 billion and 3 billion respectively.