Threads App Reaches 100 Million Users in Record Time
According to data tracking websites, the Threads app, introduced by Instagram to compete with Twitter, has garnered over 100 million users in under five days. This achievement surpasses the previous record set by the AI tool ChatGPT as the fastest-growing consumer app.
It took ChatGPT two months to reach the 100 million user mark and video sharing app TikTok nine months, while Instagram took two and a half years to reach that mark after its 2010 launch.
Threads was released in the Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries on Wednesday and Thursday, though it is not available in Europe because parent company Meta is unsure how to navigate EU data protection laws.
Twitter is believed to have around 200 million regular users, but has suffered frequent technical glitches since Tesla Tycoon Elon Musk bought the platform last year and laid off thousands of workers.
Musk, also the boss of SpaceX, has alienated many users by introducing fees for previously free services and allowing banned right-wing accounts back on the platform.
Several competitors have emerged, but most are niche markets that lack the ability to grow at the scale necessary to displace Twitter.
Threads is easier to find because it’s linked to Instagram, which has over a billion regular users.
– “Good politics” –
Online data service Quiver Quantitative reported that the app passed 100 million users at 0700 GMT on Monday.
Other websites that used the number of “badges” received by Instagram users who uploaded Threads estimated that the badge had been passed earlier.
But European data protection legislation is giving Metal a serious headache.
The company is already threatened with regular fines for violating the EU Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Now, the upcoming Digital Markets Act specifically prohibits companies like Meta — which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp — from aggregating data across its various platforms.
Its business model revolves around siphoning personal data for use in targeted advertising, and Threads accounts are linked to Instagram accounts.
In the first public reaction to Threads, EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton told French radio Franceinfo that Meta was right to try to make sure its apps complied with the law.
“To use a little time probably seems like a good policy to me,” he said, adding that there were plenty of solutions.
– Hot competition –
At the same time, Musk has threatened to sue Meta for stealing trade secrets and intellectual property rights, claims the company denies.
The billionaire tycoon is also locked in a personal and increasingly youthful rivalry with Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg.
The men have been feuding for years, but things escalated when it became clear that Meta was going to compete with Twitter.
Last month, the two men challenged each other to a cage fight, and at the launch of Threads, Zuckerberg tweeted for the first time in a decade.
He posted a popular meme of two Spider-Men looking at each other, citing the similarity between Threads and Twitter.
On Monday, Musk took his beef with Zuckerberg to the next level, suggesting the two men engage in a “literal” penis-measuring contest.
