Meta's new app Threads won't let you delete your account without deleting your Instagram too
Threads has raveled into a trap, some users say.
Meta's new platform designed to dethrone Twitter as the go-to social media app for text-based conversations officially launched July 6 — but for some looking to delete their accounts after testing it out are experiencing some trouble.
A Threads account can only be deleted by deleting the existing Instagram account used to create it, according to the Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy and a Help Centre page. To create a Threads account, a user must have an Instagram account, its Help Centre page says, and if the user doesn’t have one, they must make one. The app is listed as “Threads, an Instagram app” in both the Apple app store and Google Play.
“The fact that you have to delete your instagram account to delete your threads profile and data is enough to make me not download it lol,” one person tweeted.
TODAY.com has reached out to Meta with a request for comment.
While some people were looking to delete the app out of disinterest, others were concerned about privacy. One tweet with more than 90K views looks at some of the data the app collects, including health, locations, contacts and search histories. (That same privacy policy can be reviewed in the Apple app store.)
Data “may be collected and linked to your identity,” according to a line on the app’s page in the Apple app store above a list of the 12 types of data it collects.
Data collected by Instagrams upcoming Twitter competitor, “Threads.”
This is not only greedy, it’s dangerous. I’m physically repulsed. pic.twitter.com/uUATir9P0Z— Claire Silver 🌸 (@ClaireSilver12) July 4, 2023
Threads got 10 million sign ups in its first seven hours, according to Mark Zuckerberg, who posted the stat on his Threads account. NBC News reported it got 23 million sign-ups on launch night.
The Help Centre page notes that users can delete individual posts or temporarily deactivate their account. But permanently deleting their account’s profile and data requires them to delete their Instagram account.
Users say they feel tricked into creating a Threads account.
“We can’t delete our threads account without deleting our ig??” someone tweeted. “They knew ppl would instantly hate it so they made it a saw trap.”
“This is not only greedy, it’s dangerous,” another tweeted with a screenshot of the 12 types of data the app collects. “I’m physically repulsed.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
