Meta will not yet launch Threads in the European Union after being affected by the bloc’s data protection policy. This same Thursday, this social network that seeks to rival Twitter opens in the United States and the United Kingdom, but its European version will not be available until later.
Specifically, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg is studying how to regulate the exchange of data between this new platform and Instagram and Facebook, while waiting to receive more indications about the EU Digital Market Law that regulates the way in which large online networks They use their market power.
In fact, the European Commission is currently discussing this regulation with companies and it could take until September to offer a conclusion. For this reason, Threads will not yet be available in Spain and other EU countries, while the Apple App Store in the United States and the United Kingdom is already available for download.
Although Meta has not officially ruled on these problems with European legislation, sources close to the company have told The Independent that the owner of Instagram and Threads has refrained from launching the service in the EU due to what the company considers that the Digital Markets Law is confusing.
As detailed in this law, Meta becomes a “gatekeeper” or “guardian”, which means that it has greater restrictions on the way in which they mix the personal data of users, especially when exchanging private information coming from Instagram and Facebook, in this case.
From Ireland, the Data Protection Commission (CPD) has limited itself to explaining that they have been in contact with those responsible for Threads and that the social network would implement in the EU “for the moment”, although it has not been blocked either, if Not that Meta has not yet prepared the platform adapted to European regulations.
In the United States, Threads informs users that it will collect a wide variety of private data, such as your health status, financial information, browsing histories, location, purchases, contacts, search history, and other sensitive information.
Instead, the EU has much tougher privacy regulations and has already blocked Meta from launching advertising services on Whatsapp that use data from Facebook or Instagram. However, the tech giant can mix both data streams in the United States, where privacy laws are less strict.
As if that were not enough, Elon Musk has not cut himself as the owner of Twitter -with whom Threads will compete directly- and has echoed a tweet from the former head of the social network, Jack Dorsey, where he has shared all the data that Threads collects with an intriguing “All your Threads belong to us”.
Mark Zuckerberg, oblivious to the Threads privacy controversy, has posted on Twitter for the first time since 2012 in his official account, posting the well-known Spiderman meme pointing to a clone of himself and mocking the supposed similarity that his new social network will have with Elon Musk’s.
