Meta Platforms Inc plans to launch a microblogging app, Threads, days after Twitter Inc executive chairman Elon Musk announced a temporary cap on how many posts users can read on the social media site.
Threads, Instagram’s text-based conversation app, is expected to be released tomorrow and would allow users to follow the accounts they follow on the photo-sharing platform and keep the same username, a listing on Apple Inc’s App Store showed.
The launch comes after Twitter announced a slate of restrictions on the app, including the need to be verified to use TweetDeck.
Photo: Reuters
Musk’s latest announcements to address data scraping have sparked a fierce backlash from Twitter users, and ad experts said it would undermine new CEO Linda Yaccarino, who started in the role last month.
Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on a similar launch on the Google Play Store.
Meanwhile, Twitter has announced that TweetDeck, a popular program that allows users to monitor several accounts at once, would only be available to “verified” users from next month.
TweetDeck, launched more than a decade ago, shows messages in columns and its search and posting functions operate differently from the Twitter Web site or the app.
The firm said in a support message on Monday that it was launching a new version of TweetDeck with various new functions.
“In 30 days, users must be Verified to access TweetDeck,” the message said.
A series of changes to the way Twitter is run left many TweetDeck users unable to see posts on the weekend. Twitter bought London-based TweetDeck in 2011, with technology media putting the price tag at US$40 million at the time.
Additional reporting by AFP
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