BackElon Musk hits out at Zuckerberg as Threads seems 'Threat' to Twitter after 30 million sign-ups
Meta's Threads gained over 30 million sign-ups within 18 hours of its release, which has sparked a rivalry between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Musk humorously responded to a tweet mocking Meta's logo, while Zuckerberg aims to establish Threads as the preferred platform for people.
PremiumAs Meta's Threads gained over 30 million sign-ups within approximately 18 hours of its release, posing as the initial significant competition to Twitter-owned by Elon Musk, Musk took to Twitter and responded to different threads with jabs directed at Mark Zuckerberg.
In response to DogeDesigner's tweet suggesting that Meta's new app logo resembles a tapeworm, Musk humorously replied, "Metaphorically too."
Meanwhile, a username Enrique, said, "no following tab on threads? uninstalled."
Musk replied, by saying, “A closed source, algorithm-only system means that manipulation of what information people see is essentially undetectable."
Meanwhile, Twitter responded on Thursday by threatening to sue Meta, according to the publication Semafor, citing a letter delivered to Zuckerberg by a lawyer for Twitter. Meta said no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee, Reuters reported.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has also not publicly commented on Wednesday's letter, but seemingly appeared to address Threads' launch in a Thursday tweet.
“We’re often imitated -- but the Twitter community can never be duplicated," Yaccarino wrote.
Since Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion last year, several competitors have emerged in response to the chaotic decisions made by Musk, which have led to the alienation of users and advertisers. Musk's most recent action includes implementing a restriction on the number of tweets users can read per day.
Threads was introduced as a spin-off of Instagram, giving it a built-in audience of more than two billion users and sparing the new platform the challenge of starting from scratch, AFP reported.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told users that Threads was intended to build "an open and friendly platform for conversations."
"The best thing you can do if you want that too is be kind," he said.
Zuckerberg is capitalizing on the tumultuous ownership of Twitter by Musk to launch Meta's new product, with the hope of establishing it as the preferred platform for celebrities, companies, and politicians.
The ongoing rivalry between Zuckerberg and Musk intensified as Zuckerberg made a recent move against Musk. Interestingly, the two billionaires even agreed to meet for a cage match to settle their differences.
Also Read: ‘Competition is fine, cheating is not’: Elon Musk after Threads launch
Threads, a new app resembling Twitter to some extent but with certain modifications, was launched simultaneously on the Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday. Early feedback pointed out the app's similarities to Twitter, albeit with some features scaled back.
Zuckerberg revealed on Thursday that Threads had already been downloaded by over 30 million individuals within just a few hours of its release.
"Feels like the beginning of something special, but we've got a lot of work ahead to build the app," Zuckerberg wrote on his official Threads account.
Accounts were already active for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist.
Zuckerberg wrote, "It'll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully, we will."
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