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Meta is "working on" a way for users of its new app Threads to be able to delete their accounts without also having to delete their Instagram profiles, according to a spokesperson.
Concerns about Threads, Meta's rival app to Twitter, began to stir after its launch when some users noticed that they would not be able to completely delete their accounts without deleting also deleting their Instagram.
This is because Threads requires users to have an Instagram account prior to signing up. Upon downloading and opening the app, Threads provides an option to import bio information and followers from a user's existing Instagram profile.
—laura ???? (@ecto_fun) July 6, 2023
A Supplemental Privacy Policy for the app currently states that "Your Threads profile is part of your Instagram account, and may be deleted at any time by deleting your Instagram account."
A Meta spokesperson confirmed this to Insider in an email, adding, "This is something we're working on."
The statement also clarified that users can currently deactivate their profile, meaning their posts will not be visible to other users until they choose to reactivate the account, at any time without it affecting their Instagram account.
Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, also said that the company is currently "fixing" the issue, in a post on Threads responding to writer and actor Dani Fernandez, who shared a screenshot of the platform's current policy, suggesting that people should urge Meta change it. A number of other Threads users have also complained, saying they felt "trapped" by the app's policy.
Threads was launched by Meta on July 6 as a competitor app to Twitter. It received 10 million sign-ups in its first seven hours of launching, according to a post on the platform by Mark Zuckerberg.
Some users have said they've enjoyed experimenting with the app, and are debating whether it could potentially replace Twitter altogether, especially in light of disruptions to the Twitter user experience over the previous weekend, when Elon Musk announced the temporary introduction of "rate limits." This puts a cap on the number of posts users could read, in order to address "extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation" from AI companies, according to Musk.
Twitter is now threatening to sue Meta over the app, calling it a Twitter "copycat" app, according to a cease-and-desist letter sent by Musk's attorney Alex Spiro. The letter, which is addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also alleges that Meta hired some former Twitter employees who were previously laid off under Musk's leadership to make the rival social media app.
Meta's communications director Andy Stone addressed the accusation in a Threads post, writing that "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that's just not a thing."
Spiro did not respond to a request for comment from Insider at the time.
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