Meta delays launch of Threads in Europe amid privacy concerns

European Union (EU) officials said the European launch of Meta’s new social media platform, Threads, will be delayed due to privacy concerns. 

The Independent reported Tuesday that a spokesperson for Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) said the government agency has been in contact with Meta about the new platform. The spokesperson added that it will not be rolled out in the EU at this point.

The EU declined to comment on an inquiry from The Hill. 

On Wednesday night, Meta officially launched Threads, which is widely seen as a new competitor to Twitter, which is now owned by Elon Musk.

Twitter has come under a number of criticisms during Musk’s reign.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that 10 million people had registered for the app in the first seven hours after it launched in the U.S. and other countries including Japan, Australia, and Canada. 

In a statement to The Hill, a Meta spokesperson said the company is working on its new service in other countries and continuing to evaluate whether to launch in Europe, noting that “the upcoming regulatory uncertainty has played into our decision not to launch right now.”

“Europe continues to be an incredibly important market for Meta and we hope to make new products available here in future,” the Meta spokesperson told The Hill.

Sources close to Meta told The Independent that the company wanted more information about the EU’s Digital Markets Act before it released Threads in the EU.