MUSK VS. ZUCK

Mark Zuckerberg Claims 2 Million Have Signed Up After Threads Launch

The new Threads app went live today, but it faces competition from other platforms looking to supplant Twitter.

Threads—Meta’s answer to Elon Musk’s Twitter in turmoil—went live in more than 100 countries on Wednesday, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claiming two million people had signed up in just two hours. “Let’s do this. Welcome to Threads🔥,” Zuckerberg wrote in his first-ever post on the new platform. He followed with: “Glad you’re all here on day one. Let’s build something great together,” before claiming Threads passed 2 million sign ups in the first two hours. The launch follows a series of decisions by Musk, who acquired the platform last year, that ran afoul of longtime Twitter users—including a new limit on how many tweets users can view per day. Threads, which the BBC reports is available in the United States and United Kingdom but still inaccessible in the European Union, will allow users to join via their Instagram account. The app will join a growing field of Twitter competitors, such as Bluesky and Mastodon, seeking to poach discouraged users. You can follow The Daily Beast on Threads at @thedailybeast—and The Daily Beast’s Obsessed at @beastobsessed.