Meta’s Threads Launches In The EU, Teases The Fediverse. Now What?
Threads, Instagram’s new microblogging service, has finally launched in the European Union. What does this mean for social media and what role does recent EU regulation play here?
Launched originally in July 2023, the EU launch of Meta’s answer to the app formerly known as Twitter took some time as it was delayed by regulatory concerns related to the two new EU regulatory frameworks that came into force this year: The anti-monopoly Digital Markets Act¹ (DMA), the EU’s attempt to limit the monopolies in digital markets, and its sibling, the EU’s Digital Service Act² (DSA) which deals with content moderation and online safety.
Meta’s encounter with the Digital Markets Act
Meta is a behemoth of social media. With Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp - all Meta services — Meta undoubtedly dominates the social media space like no other player, and for that reason alone is naturally under special EU observation for some time. The EU, in the past, having handed out last fines related to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), has shown it means business, and Meta did well not to ignore it.
Rather than hastily launching in the European Union, Meta strategically waited out the first round of feedback from the DMA (which was due in September) before deciding how Threads could be launched in a compliant way: Firstly, EU users can choose to create a Threads profile that is connected to their Instagram account but also will have the option to use Threads without a profile, but with limited interaction.
Meta has also been careful to tackle its obligations mandated by the Digital Service Act: Threads has so far avoided “trending topics”, has added a “following only” feed from the start and limited the search for certain controversial topics connected to disinformation campaigns (that last feature being controversial though). Meta has also announced the upcoming introduction of a “fact checking” feature, likely similar to Twitter’s “Community Notes”, though hopefully with less interference by the CEO.
The Threads only “Hide for all” feature (a sort of self-moderation of responses to one’s post) is one of the highlights of the new platform, allowing to limit trolling and bullying to an extent.
More than the account separation from Instagram however, Threads has pledged from the start to open up the platform to the decentralized “Fediverse”, thereby making it possible for users to interact with Threads content without ever registering an account with Threads at all. This more than anything else might guarantee Threads’ ongoing compliance with the DMA.
Dipping Into The Fediverse
Pretty much as I had speculated in July the EU launch therefore coincides with Threads starting to open up to the Fediverse, the network of decentralized services (mainly Mastodon instances) connected by the ActivityPub protocol. The Fediverse has gained traction since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, not just via Mastodon but with wordpress having now joined the network, and Tumblr having announced its integration at some point in the future, too.
Since today, the day of the EU launch, first signs of Threads’ fediverse integration started to emerge: Some of Meta’s developer accounts can be searched and followed from mastodon instances. There is still some way to go but it certainly indicates that Meta is serious about the integration.
“Making Threads interoperable will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach more people” (Mark Zuckerberg)³
Meta has also in past months been reaching out to ActivityPub developers via meetings, including admins of Mastodon instances and people who have been involved in ActivityPub standardization⁵.
It is no secret that parts of the Fediverse feel uneasy about Threads joining: Once Threads has been fully integrated, it will by far be the largest (approximately 90%) instance on the network. There are both concerns that other instances might get overwhelmed, and there is — understandably — a lot of mistrust towards Meta’s intentions. And that is fair enough. While Mark Zuckerberg and his team may look like saints next to Elon Musk we should not so easily forget Facebook’s past entanglement with privacy concerns.
Many have claimed that the EU’s regulation would lead to services staying outside the EU. With Threads this is clearly not the case, likely because a target audience of 450 million people is simply to large to be ignored.
An early success for the DMA?
The DMA was introduced to ensure competition in digital markets, preventing large companies from abusing their market power, and making it possible for new players to enter the market. Opening Threads to the Fediverse seems like a good way to do that.
If Threads follows through with ActivityPub support (and there is no foul play involved) and if that openness becomes a new standard on the web — and at least for now it looks that might actually be happening - we should call the DMA a success.
It’s early days, sure, but — after the whole Twitter disaster — it might bring some excitement back we badly needed.
¹ The Digital Markets Act — EU Commission
² Digital Service Act — EU Commission
³ Zuckerberg says Threads will dip its toe in the ‘fediverse’ as it opens to Europe — CNN
⁴ You can find me on threads as “mistakenotmy”, or on mastodon as “mistakenotmy@universeodon.com”
⁵ Meta/Threads Interoperating in the Fediverse Data Dialogue Meeting yesterday — reb00ted
