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Adam Mosseri, leader of Instagram, said in two Thread Posts Friday that the new app would not promote “politics and hard news” on its platform, a far cry from the promoted political content found on rival platform Twitter.
The ad for the social networking app Threads is shown in the US Apple App Store. (Photo by … [+]
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Key factors
Mosseri said in a Threads of conversation that the new platform will inevitably contain politics and hard news, but that Threads “will do nothing to encourage those verticals,” an approach taken by Facebook in 2021.
Mosseri noted that the engagement or revenue such content can generate is not worth the scrutiny, negativity or integrity risks they present to the platform.
“The goal is not to replace Twitter,” Mosseri added, referring to the rival platform that has heavily encouraged political content and hosted live audio conversations with former Twitter CEO Elon Musk and the chairman of the GOP. candidates.
Both Meta and Twitter allow users to pay to be verified on their respective platforms.
Crucial appointment
“The goal is not to replace Twitter,” Mosseri said. “The goal is to create a public square for Instagram communities that never adopted Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not everything Twitter”.
Big Number
70 million This is the amount of registrations that came in on Friday morning.
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Threads’ choice to avoid news and politics on its platform is likely due to the problems Facebook had before curtailing such content in 2021. A study found that in 2020, during the run-up to the presidential election, Facebook spread fake news. faster than any other social website. A separate Study 2021 concluded that the website could have prevented more than 10 billion visits to popular pages that posted misinformation on Facebook before the election. In early 2021, the social networking site changed its algorithm to reduce the amount of political content in users’ feeds. Since then, the platform has stood in sharp contrast to Twitter, which after its $44 billion purchase from Musk, has encouraged political content. Musk, who remains active on the app, has encouraged politicians to engage with him on Twitter Spaces, allowing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fl) to launch his presidential campaign using the live audio feature. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson also uses Twitter as a platform to upload episodes of his independent commentary show. In Carlson’s first episode of the show, he said he and his team were “grateful” to be on Twitter and were told there were no “gatekeepers” on the platform.
To read more
Threads is not for news and politics, says Instagram boss (The edge)
Meta Threads doesn’t need the “negativity” of hard news and politics, executive says (CNBC)
