With the introduction of Threads, Meta's text-based conversation network, across 100 countries in July, Twitter is facing its most formidable rival yet after months of instability under its new owner.
The app gained 30 million users in less than a day, including celebrities and media outlets, but its debut in Europe has been delayed due to concerns over data protection.
The app has been delayed by "upcoming regulatory uncertainty," as Meta spokesperson Christine Pai put it, which is generally understood to be a reference to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Tech firms and regulatory sceptics have long maintained that rules like the DMA stifle innovation by imposing onerous user security measures, but the looming competition law hasn't stopped Meta from offering new products — and Meta hasn't suggested that a European launch will be cancelled.
If anything, the DMA adds friction to a product's introduction, forcing the company to review how it safeguards users before releasing it into the open — even if it affects Threads' popularity promptly.
However, there is still a lot of uncertainty as companies wait for additional guidelines later this autumn, as well as an unanswered question: will compliance with Europe's standards undermine the design that has allowed Threads to grow so quickly?
Pai and other Meta representatives have refused to blame the Threads delay on any of Europe's multiple tech guidelines. However, discussions with Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri suggest that the EU's Digital Markets Act is to blame.
The regulation, which was passed last year, includes a slew of new rules aimed at preventing "gatekeepers" — companies with a specific user base and market cap — from abusing their market position.
The DMA forbids companies as big as Meta from reusing a user's personal data — including name and location — across products for targeted advertising without the user's agreement.
According to Meta's privacy policies, it collects and uses information across its products to deliver adverts to consumers. Information from Apple’s App Store suggests that Threads could collect a wide range of personal data, including a user's contacts and search history, as well as health and location data.
According to Ireland's Independent newspaper, a representative for the Data Protection Commission (DPC) suggested that the watchdog had been in communication with Meta concerning Threads and that the platform would not be rolled out in the EU "at this point."
Meta's history with EU regulators
Two recent rulings have raised data and privacy concerns regarding Meta's operations in the European Union. Earlier this year in July, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg ruled that a German watchdog may investigate privacy violations in which user agreement wasn't acquired prior to the firm using personal data to target adverts to consumers.
Furthermore, in May, Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), which oversees Meta across the EU, ordered Facebook to halt data transfers from the EU to the US and fined the internet giant a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) for violating General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards.
Meta announced that it will appeal the ruling, claiming that it had been "singled out" by the DPC despite the fact that several other companies use identical data migration techniques.