All posts tagged: Threads

How to Make Apps and Websites Remove Your Nonconsensual Nudes

How to Make Apps and Websites Remove Your Nonconsensual Nudes

Published by skeptic

Once someone submits a takedown request, a platform has up to 48 hours to determine whether it is valid. If it decides that it is, then it has to remove both the content reported and any identical copies. Several larger platforms say they use an industry tool called StopNCII, which uses matching algorithms to identify abusive images and videos and is maintained by a British nonprofit. People can open cases directly on the tool’s website to add to what the tool flags. Reddit, TikTok, Snap, Microsoft Bing, and Meta’s social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are all listed as participants on the tool’s website. Though many major platforms have dedicated forms to help guide the submission process, Alejandro Cuevas, a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy who studied the impact of initial passage of the law on deepfake communities, has observed that some sites only offer an email address for people to submit takedown requests. Cuevas says in those cases, keeping good documentation, including links to the offending content, is especially …

Gaza at the Venice Biennale: Where language falls short, threads take over | Gaza

Gaza at the Venice Biennale: Where language falls short, threads take over | Gaza

Published by Sam Flores

I am a journalist; storytelling is my craft. Words are the tools I turn to, again and again, to make sense of events and shape them into narratives that do them justice. And yet, when it comes to the genocide in Gaza, my birthplace, language feels wholly inadequate. There is a limit to what words can say. At a certain point, the instinct to describe, to explain and to make sense of what has unfolded begins to break down under the sheer scale of devastation and pain. One scene from the start of the war has lingered in my mind: A bulldozer burying 111 unidentified bodies, wrapped in bright blue bags, in a mass grave. It appeared briefly in the endless scroll of social media before it disappeared again, replaced by yet another shocking scene. And another. A hundred and eleven souls about whom we knew nothing; not their names, not their dreams or what their final moments were. A New York Times headline read: More Than 100 Bodies Are Delivered to a Mass Grave …

Meta Adds New Live Chat Feature to Threads for NBA Playoffs, Major Events

Meta Adds New Live Chat Feature to Threads for NBA Playoffs, Major Events

Published by skeptic

Engagement is a big deal in the world of social media. On Wednesday, Meta announced Live Chats, a new feature for the Instagram-supported social app Threads. It adds a real-time conversation component, letting people connect during high-interest cultural events, such as playoff or championship games, or even the drop of a highly anticipated album. Live Chats, the new public chat feature on Threads, launches in time for the NBA Playoffs. Meta Live Chats won’t be limited to sports, but the feature is launching during the NBA Playoffs within the NBAThreads Community, and an assortment of personalities — Malika Andrews, Rachel Nichols, Trysta Krick, David Rushing and Lexis Mickens — will host Live Chats as the games unfold.  The group chat experience includes countdowns, polls, live scores and other real-time options designed to keep the conversation active. How to find Live Chats on Threads Live Chats about the games will appear at the top of the NBAThreads Community, and they can also appear in your main feed on Threads if you follow a personality who has posted the link. A red circle will appear …

Meta finally adds direct messages to the web version of Threads

Meta finally adds direct messages to the web version of Threads

Published by skeptic

Meta is adding a feature to the web version of Threads that, honestly, probably should’ve been there a while ago. As spotted by Engadget, Threads executive Connor Hayes posted an image showcasing a new redesign for the web browser version of the Twitter-like social network. It’s a pretty substantial redesign, including a bunch of new elements on the left sidebar such as the ability to easily switch between different feeds. Eagle-eyed viewers will also undoubtedly notice the addition of a direct message inbox. That feature has been available in the Threads mobile app since last June, but web users have been without it for almost an entire year. That, seemingly, will change soon. Mashable Light Speed SEE ALSO: Threads has overtaken X in daily users, but only on mobile Hayes’ post didn’t include a specific timeframe for when this new redesign will go live, so don’t get too excited just yet if you’re a web-based Threads user who wants to send and receive DMs. The only hint Hayes gave is that users can expect to …

In a vote of confidence for Meta’s Threads, Kalshi adds sharing feature

In a vote of confidence for Meta’s Threads, Kalshi adds sharing feature

Published by skeptic

Prediction market Kalshi is making it easier for its users to have conversations on Meta’s social network Threads. Kalshi now offers a share option that will automatically embed the relevant prediction market chart into a Threads post. Whether people want to discuss who’s going to win Best Picture or which reality TV contestant is going to go home (and possibly bet on the outcome on Kalshi), “with this integration, people can share their opinions alongside the forecasts they’re seeing on Kalshi,” the company said in a blog post. It’s a move that echoes a successful social media strategy for both Kalshi and its biggest rival, Polymarket, on X. However, things have gotten complicated for Kalshi on X recently. In June, X named Polymarket as its “official” prediction market partner. Last month, Kalshi removed its affiliate badges from X accounts run by its sponsored traders. This came after X enacted a policy that prohibits sponsored accounts from posting about sports betting. That policy was adopted after the prediction markets were reportedly busted for partnering with fake …

Threads is testing a shortcut to quickly start DM conversations

Threads is testing a shortcut to quickly start DM conversations

Published by skeptic

Threads is testing a shortcut to make it easier to DM someone, the Meta-owned company announced on Thursday. Users who are part of the test can type “DM me” or “Message me” in a post or reply to automatically generate a hyperlink that invites others to start a private conversation with them. Tapping on the shortcut will take you to a one-on-one direct messaging chat with the person. If you both follow each other, the message will go directly to their primary inbox. If you don’t follow each other, the message is filtered through the “Message Requests” folder to prevent spam. The company says the new shortcut removes the need to navigate to a person’s profile to start a DM conversation with them. While Threads was late to introduce a native DM feature, this latest move indicates that the social network is looking to make messaging a more central part of its platform, as it’s working to reduce the number of steps it takes to start a conversation. The new feature is rolling out to …

Meta Is Blocking Links To ICE List on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

Meta Is Blocking Links To ICE List on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

Published by skeptic

Meta has started blocking its users from sharing links to ICE List, a website that has compiled the names of what it claims are Department of Homeland Security employees, a project the creators say is designed to hold those employees accountable. Dominick Skinner, the creator of ICE List, tells WIRED that links to the website have been shared without issue on Meta’s platforms for more than six months. “I think it’s no surprise that a company run by a man who sat behind Trump at his inauguration, and donated to the destruction of the White House, has taken a stance that helps ICE agents retain anonymity,” says Skinner. As agents from Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which are under DHS, have continued to terrorize immigrant communities and kill US citizens, activists have sought to track and record their activity online in a bid to hold them accountable. But as well as threatening to prosecute those they claim are “doxing” ICE agents, the Trump administration has pressured tech companies to block any efforts at …

Ukrainians share tips on Threads to survive winter power cuts : NPR

Ukrainians share tips on Threads to survive winter power cuts : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A resident in Kyiv, Ukraine, helps his 2-year-old daughter use a headlight during a power outage at their apartment amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Andrew Kravchenko/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Kravchenko/AFP via Getty Images KYIV — After repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, Ukrainians are facing long cuts to heating, electricity and water during the coldest winter since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago. After a Jan. 9 attack, nearly 6,000 homes were left without heating in Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Utility services and energy workers worked around the clock to restore electricity to nearly all these homes last week. But less than two weeks later, another attack knocked electricity out again. Heating systems have shut down because their pumps and control boards depend on electricity. Without electricity and heating, a modern skyscraper becomes a cold concrete box, and panoramic windows with breathtaking views of the Dnipro River, a source of cold. With outside temperatures dropping to near-zero degrees Fahrenheit, and everywhere covered in …

Threads Usage Overtakes X on Mobile

Threads Usage Overtakes X on Mobile

Published by skeptic

Meta’s Threads has now reportedly surpassed its rival X (formerly Twitter) in daily mobile usage globally. Market intelligence firm Similarweb (via TechCrunch) reports that Threads recorded 141.5 million daily active users across iOS and Android worldwide as of January 7, 2026, compared with 125 million daily active mobile users for X. The data indicates that Threads crossed ahead of X on mobile sometime between late October and early November 2025, following a prolonged period of steady growth rather than a sudden spike. While X continues to attract more mobile users than Threads in the United States, Similarweb estimates that X’s U.S. daily active mobile user base has declined significantly, falling to roughly half of what it was a year earlier, as Threads continues to gain ground. Despite Threads’ gains on mobile, Similarweb’s data shows that X maintains a decisive lead when web usage is included. As of January 13, 2026, X was attracting an estimated 145.4 million daily web visitors, compared with approximately 8.5 million daily web visitors for Threads. When mobile and web audiences …

Threads is testing a shortcut to quickly start DM conversations

Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows

Published by skeptic

A report from market intelligence firm Similarweb suggests that Meta’s Threads is now seeing more daily usage than Elon Musk’s X on mobile devices. While X still dominates Threads on the web, the Threads mobile app for iOS and Android has continued to see an increase in daily active users over the past several months. Similarweb’s data shows that Threads had 141.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android as of January 7, 2026, after months of growth, while X has 125 million daily active users on mobile devices. This appears to be the result of longer-term trends, rather than a reaction to the recent X controversies, where users were discovered using the platform’s integrated AI, Grok, to create non-consensual nude images of women, including, sometimes minors. Concern around the deepfake images has now prompted California’s attorney general to open an investigation into Grok, following similar investigations by other regions, like the UK, EU, India, Brazil, and many more. The drama on X also led social networking startup Bluesky to see an increase in app installs …