Five months after its initial launch in July, Meta's innovative social network, Threads, has made a grand entrance into the European Union, marking a significant step towards broader accessibility for users across the continent.
Mark Zuckerberg himself heralded this expansion on Threads with an enthusiastic announcement, extending a warm welcome to European users. "Today we’re opening Threads to more countries in Europe. Welcome everyone 👋," he shared in a Threads post, inviting users to delve into this new platform's possibilities.
What's intriguing about Threads in the EU is its "Use without a profile" mode on the Threads.net website, enabling users to explore posts without Instagram login requirements. However, functionalities such as replying, liking, or reposting are restricted in this mode, offering a browsing experience sans interaction.
For EU users navigating Threads without a profile, a single algorithmically curated feed awaits, albeit without the option to search for specific posts, limiting exploration to account discovery.
At its July launch, compliance with EU regulations resulted in restricted access to Threads, withholding the app download and lacking a web version for post access through URLs. Notably, Meta encountered VPN usage circumvention challenges by EU-based users soon after the social network's debut.
The official EU launch aligns with recent reports, including The Wall Street Journal's insight, pinpointing December as Threads' EU entry. A countdown timer on Threads' homepage further fueled anticipation, marking December 14 as the monumental day for EU users.
Marking a milestone for Meta, Threads' expansion into the EU aims to propel its user base beyond the 100 million monthly active users, as highlighted during Meta’s Q3 earnings call.
Adding to its innovation, Threads recently initiated experiments with ActivityPub integration, potentially allowing posts from this Meta-owned network to spread across compatible decentralized platforms like Mastodon, opening up new avenues for content dissemination and interaction.
