Users of the newly launched Threads app from Meta are expressing their disappointment after discovering that they cannot delete their account without deleting their Instagram account as well. This has left many users feeling “trapped” and “outraged” by this lack of choice.
On July 6th, Meta unveiled their new Twitter rival app, Threads. According to a post from Mark Zuckerberg on the app, it received 10 million sign-ups in its first seven hours. Soon after, many users began sharing their shock upon learning that they could not delete only Threads as it is tied to Instagram.
One day after its launch, a Meta spokesperson told Insider that the company is now “working on” a solution to the issue.
Meta Faces Backlash as Users Demand Account Deletion for Threads, Not Instagram
Threads, as Insider notes, requires users to have an Instagram account "prior to signing up." Upon downloading and opening the app, "Threads provides an option to import bio information and followers from a user's existing Instagram profile," the outlet writes.
A Supplemental Privacy Policy for the app also states: "Your Threads profile is part of your Instagram account, and may be deleted at any time by deleting your Instagram account." This was then confirmed by the Meta spokesperson who emailed Insider, writing: "This is something we're working on."
After controversial Twitter owner Elon Musk announced "rate limits," (which put a cap on the number of posts users can read on the app), many users tweeted that they were looking forward to joining Meta's Threads to continue to create and consume similar content they were used to, without some kind of limit.
In the days since Threads' launch, users who experimented and discovered the deletion restriction took to Twitter to express their frustration. "We can’t delete our threads account without deleting our ig??" one wrote, adding, "they knew ppl would instantly hate it so they made it a saw trap." Someone else agreed, tweeting that they felt "trapped."
Twitter Threatens To Sue Meta Over Threads Similarities
While Meta works to fix the Threads/ Instagram debacle, Twitter is now threatening to sue the company. In a cease-and-desist letter sent by Musk's attorney Alex Spiro, the lawyer referred to Threads as a "copycat" app.
The letter is addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It alleges that Meta hired former Twitter employees (who were laid off under Musk's leadership) to create the new, rival social media app.
In a recent Threads post, Andy Stone, communications director at Meta, responded to the accusation. "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing," he wrote.
