Taliban says Meta's Threads ‘cannot replace’ Twitter; lists two reasons

Sanchari Ghosh

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Afghan Taliban's powerful faction the Haqqani Network has expressed support for Twitter amid the ongoing Twitter vs Threads debate. Anas Haqqani, a top Taliban leader in Kabul, highlighted two advantages of Twitter over other social media platforms: freedom of speech and the public nature and credibility of Twitter. Haqqani stated that Twitter's content moderation policy, which is seen as more tolerant compared to platforms like Meta, makes it the preferred choice for the Haqqani Network.

Praising the policies of Twitter, Haqqani said, “The first privilege is the freedom of speech. The second privilege is the public nature & credibility of Twitter."

“Twitter doesn't have an intolerant policy like Meta. Other platforms cannot replace it."

Meanwhile, Meta's Twitter rival Threads has passed 100 million users in just 5 days since its launch. Threads has also taken ChatGPT's crown as the fastest growing consumer product ever. Threads was launched on 6 July 2023 with the aim of becoming "the public conversation app with 1 billion people on it".

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that demand for the social media app is 'mostly organic' and that many promotions haven't even been turned on yet.

“Threads reached 100 million sign ups over the weekend," Zuckerberg said in a post. “That’s mostly organic demand and we haven’t even turned on many promotions yet. Can’t believe it’s only been 5 days!"

Twitter threatens legal action against Thread

Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new text-based app called Threads, which has drawn tens of millions of users since launching this week as a rival to Elon Musk’s social media platform.

In a letter Wednesday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat" app.

The move ramps up the tensions between the social media giants after Threads debuted Wednesday, targeting those who are seeking out alternatives to Twitter amid unpopular changes Musk has made to the platform since buying it last year for $44 billion.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote Thursday on Threads: “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing."

In the letter, which news website Semafor first reported Thursday, Spiro said Twitter “intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights" and noted the company's right to seek civil remedies or a court injunction.