Meta’s Threads Available in the EU

This article was last updated on December 14, 2023

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Meta’s Threads Now Available in the European Union

As of today, Threads is also available in the European Union, making Meta’s app a bigger competitor for X. The app was launched in July and got off to a flying start, but the great amount of attentionIt then quickly subsided again.

EU Launch Delay and Digital Markets Act (DMA)

Meta deliberately skipped the EU at launch. This had to do with new rules, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which should limit the dominant position of large tech companies such as Meta. Meta’s message in July was that the law would bring too much uncertainty. It also seemed to be a signal to policymakers in Brussels that new strict legislation could mean that new services only come to the European market later.

It is not clear how realistic those concerns ultimately were. In the meantime, Meta has been officially designated as a ‘gatekeeper’ under the DMA, which entails additional obligations. These obligations will officially come into effect in March next year. Unlike the rest of the world, Meta gives users in the EU the option to use Threads without a profile, although you will not be able to post or share messages. The company states that it thus meets the requirements of Brussels.

Threads vs. X: A Comparison

Threads is in many ways similar to X, the former Twitter owned by Elon Musk. The basis are two timelines. One shows the most relevant messages based on an algorithm, the other the most recent. You can also follow people and be followed back. To make it easier to use Threads, Meta has made it possible to log in with an existing Instagram account and follow the network that has been built up there on Threads. The app has gained around 100 million monthly active users in three months, making it a bit smaller than X.

Threads’ Strategy and Potential Network Expansion

When Meta presented its X-rival, it also made a striking promise. It would become possible to follow Threads users with an account from other alternatives to X, such as Mastodon or Bluesky and vice versa. This is possible because the tech giant supports the same underlying protocol, called ActivityPub. This week, just before Threads became available within the EU, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would test it. That makes the potential network much larger and therefore does not necessarily make it necessary to be on Threads.

Meta’s Different Approach and Revenue Model

It is a step that you might not expect so quickly from a tech giant like Meta. The company originally has apps, just like Twitter, that are closed. You cannot follow someone on X with an Instagram account. Meta therefore opts for a different strategy with Threads. Threads currently has no advertisements yet. It is obvious that these will come in the future, since that is the revenue model of all Meta’s services, but the company probably wants to wait until the app is bigger. In the meantime, X is increasingly less successful at selling advertisements. This week wrote Bloomberg that revenues will be hundreds of millions lower than last year. X tries to compensate for this with alternative sources of income, such as the Twitter Blue subscription.

Future of Threads and Its Position as a Competitor to X

Although Threads currently has the best credentials to become a formidable competitor for X, it still has to prove itself. Musk’s platform has become popular partly because it was widely used to follow breaking news. Meta is not eager to turn Threads into a news-driven platform. In October, Adam Mosseri, head of Threads and Instagram at Meta, said the company isn’t against news, but isn’t going to “amplify” news either. Mosseri on the other hand, seems to hope that sports such as basketball, for example, will become big on Threads.