Link: Threads’ Awkward Teenage Years

Instagram head Adam Mosseri and his deputies seem to be still trying to figure out Threads’ identity. Meta is adamant it wants the app to be a positive space—and one mostly free of news and politics. Emails sent to reporters from a PR firm working with Meta recently highlighted Threads such as “Jennifer Lopez welcomed Spring Break with some ice cream!” and “MoMA shared pie art” on Pi Day. Who are they targeting? I can’t really tell. What Meta is not experimenting with, of course, is news content. The company has done its best to distance itself from news on its apps in recent years as it leans more into TikTok-style videos and away from political content that could open it to situations like the 2016 U.S. general election, when Russian operatives used its ads to influence voters. That’s a thin needle to thread. Twitter, now called X, is still a place people go to hear and discuss breaking news. In an election year, can Threads keep ignoring news and politics and grow at the rate it wants to? Meta’s leaders seem determined to find out. #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.