Meta launched a new app as an alternative to Twitter — and some people are al-thread-y over it.
Threads — Twitter’s latest rival — launched late Wednesday night and over 10 million people signed up within the first seven hours of launching, Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the app.
But people who are trying to delete their account and leave the new app are discovering that they can’t without also deleting their Instagram account, since the two link together.
The debut of Threads had users experimenting with the new platform, and some were posting that they would be abandoning Elon Musk-run Twitter for the Meta app.
Threads launches after Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year, which resulted in many changes to the user experience. Most recently, the platform placed limits on how many tweets users can view per day — with verified accounts able to read 10,000 posts per day, unverified accounts 1,000 posts and new unverified accounts 500 posts.
While some are happy to have a replacement for Twitter, others couldn’t find the joy in it and looked to delete their accounts — only to find that they would have to also delete Instagram, according to the Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy and a Help Center page.
The policy goes the other way, too: Deleting Instagram can delete Threads.
“Your Threads profile is part of your Instagram account, and may be deleted at any time by deleting your Instagram account,” a Supplemental Privacy Policy for the app said.
Threads and Instagram are linked, and would-be Threads users must have an Instagram account before signing up. When registering for a Threads profile, there’s an option to import bio information and followers straight from Instagram.
However, there is a way to get around this — but your Threads account technically still won’t be deleted.
A disclaimer in the Help Center states that users on Threads can delete individual posts or temporarily deactivate their account, meaning their posts won’t be visible to others until they choose to reactivate. So while the account will be hidden from all other users, it still won’t be fully deleted.
A Meta spokesperson told Insider in a statement that “this is something we’re working on.”
Some users took to Twitter to complain about this part of its competitor app.
“We can’t delete our threads account without deleting our ig?? they knew ppl would instantly hate it so they made it a saw trap,” one person wrote.
“I want to delete my threads ac but now I can’t … Stuck,” another said.
“Installed threads just to see what it is all about and this mf trapped us all, can’t even delete the account now :)” a user tweeted.
“I deactivated my threads account already but it turns out you can’t delete your threads account *without also deleting your Instagram account* so maybe just don’t sign up!” one admitted.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri posted on Threads that the team is also working on “tons of basics that are missing” such as a search feature, hashtags, a following feed and more.
“But full disclosure, it’ll take time,” Mosseri added.
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