Meta has officially confirmed that it refuses citizens of the European Union to use a VPN to join subjects.
Recently, EU users noticed that they were suddenly unable to post on the new social media platform. Industry analyst Matt Navarra reached out to Meta to find out what’s going on. In a statement to Navarrathe tech giant admitted it had taken enhanced “anti-human measures.” [in EU] Countries [from] Access to threads”, which appears to include blocking the use of VPNs, which are often used to bypass online access restrictions.
Currently, the platform is not yet available for most European countries. Of course there are exceptions for non-members like the UK. Meta concludes its statement by saying that it hopes to one day “bring Threads to more countries in the future” as Europe is an important market for the company.
security issue
As frustrating as this might be for people wanting to try the platform, it’s actually not that surprising.
The European Union and Meta have been at odds over security concerns for years. Back at the end of MayData protection authorities fined the company a record €1.2 billion (about $1.3 billion) “for transferring EU user data to the US.” There is even a chance It could be subject to another fine “Due to violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)” [law] In Whatsapp.” In addition to the new regulation from last year when he was trying to rein in tech giants and you can understand why Meta might not want to play along with the EU.
Despite the resistance, it doesn’t look like Meta plans to change its data collection methods any time soon. Threads, if you choose to do so, can collect a lot of user information that’s almost comical. If you look at the official product listing on both sites Google play store or in the App Store, you will see that the app is ready to collect data about your health, search history, browsing history, financial information, purchases, location, etc.
All your threads are ours https://t.co/FfrIcUng5O pic.twitter.com/V7xbMOfINtJuly 4, 2023
Even if Meta Threads wanted to release in Europe at the same time as everywhere else, we highly doubt the Union would have allowed the launch given the app’s potential for gathering a lot of information.
Pending launch
It’s hard to tell how Meta’s plan is progressing. Threads has taken off like a rocket since its inception. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced “100 million people [have] I signed up for the service in less than a week. Momentum is strong at the moment, but it’s important to note that Threads has slowed down a bit. market research company Sensor Firm told CNBC The number of daily active users on the platform has dropped by 20 percent since launch. The time spent on the website also fell by 50 percent.
So the question is: will Meta continue to crack down on EU users or will it reverse that decision? We asked the company if they would like to comment on the situation. This story will be updated at a later date.
Hopefully, Meta will come to an agreement with European regulators. We need more Twitter alternatives and it would be a shame if Threads’ momentum were to be brought to its knees by this situation.
In the meantime, check out TechRadar’s List of the top three Twitter alternatives if you are looking for a new place to sleep.
