Meta executive says new Threads app is not for politics and hard news—here’s why

Politics and hard news are not encouraged on new social media platform Threads, according to a Meta executive.

In a July 8 post on Threads, Adam Mosseri, who is on top of both Instagram and Threads, noted that while users are most likely going to talk about politics and hard news on the new app, they are “not going to do anything to encourage those verticals.” 

“Politics and hard news are important. But my take is, from a platform’s perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity, or integrity risks that come along with them,” he added.

Mosseri also noted that it’s not their goal to act as a replacement for Twitter. “The goal is to create a public space for communities on Instagram that never really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not all of Twitter.” 

Mark Zuckerberg’s company launched Threads on Thursday, July 6 (Philippine time).

A major challenger to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, the new platform is quite similar to the iconic blue bird app–from the overall layout to the internal features such as liking, reposting, commenting, and sharing. Its blue checkmarks for verification are also incorporated into the program.

Threads is now available in 100 countries, including the Philippines, and will run with no advertisements in the meantime.