Meta's Threads swiftly signs up 30 million users, in clear threat to Musk-owned Twitter
By Aditya Soni
(Reuters) -Meta's Threads racked up more than 30 million sign-ups within about 18 hours of its launch, emerging as the first real threat to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, as it took advantage of its access to billions of Instagram users and a similar look to that of its rival.
Dubbed as the «Twitter-Killer», Threads was the top free app on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s App Store in the UK and the U.S. on Thursday. Its arrival comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's Musk have traded barbs for months, even threatening to fight each other in a real-life mixed martial arts cage match in Las Vegas.
«The cage match has started, and Zuckerberg delivered a major blow. In many ways, it's exactly what you'd expect from Meta: Stellar execution and an easy-to-navigate user interface,» Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said.
Twitter responded on Thursday by threatening to sue Meta, according to the publication Semafor, citing a letter delivered to Zuckerberg by a lawyer for Twitter. Representatives for both Meta and Twitter were not immediately available for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the Semafor report.
Numerous competitors to Twitter have sprung up following Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social media platform last year, which was followed by a series of chaotic decisions that have alienated both users and advertisers. Musk's latest move involved limiting the number of tweets users can read per day.
Twitter's stumbles make room for a well-funded competitor like Meta Platforms, analysts and experts said, particularly because of its access to Instagram users and its advertising strength.
«Meta's release of Threads came at the perfect time to give it a fighting chance to unseat
Read more on investing.com
