Fearing the scrutiny of European regulators, Meta isn’t bringing threads to Europe for now.

Meta is about to launch Threads, a new social media platform that’s a hybrid of Twitter and Instagram. If our news article this morning got you all ready for the big start, we’re sorry to disappoint you. Meta has informed the Irish data protection authority DPA that the app is not coming to Europe for the time being, writes Independent.

Although DPA hasn’t officially opposed a European launch of Threads, Meta could go for its money. From the still somewhat vague data protection conditions, it can be deduced that Threads will obtain user data from the users’ Instagram profiles. This is of course not permitted under European data protection regulations.

In the narrow corner

Meta doesn’t usually bother too much, but a ruling from a Luxembourg court has left the social media giant in a bind. This court ruled that from now on regulators will have access to the data that technology platforms collect from their users.

Therefore, the companies behind the platforms must be able to justify why they collect this data. So Meta already seems to be admitting that the way threads collect data violates privacy laws and would result in fines. It is not known when Threads might come to Europe.

Knockout hit for Twitter?

According to sources, Meta Threads would be launching tomorrow in the UK and US, where the company will have a bit more freedom in processing user data. Twitter has every reason to fear this new competitor. Meta hopes to seduce the Instagram audience, which is still a big pond without the European users.

Twitter is also shooting itself in the foot. Musk makes one unpopular decision after another. Zuckerberg therefore sees a unique opportunity to initially sell Musk a digital boost before finally throwing it in the cage.