Threads users can now opt out of automatically sharing posts to Facebook and Instagram

Meta now lets Threads users avoid automatically sharing their posts with its other apps. When activated, the opt-out feature prevents Meta’s Twitter clone from sharing posts to Instagram and Facebook without user consent. Software engineer Alessandro Paluzzi spotted early signs of the privacy toggle earlier this month.

Threads users can turn off automatic cross-platform content sharing by heading to their profile page, selecting the menu at the top right, then Privacy > Suggesting posts on other apps, and toggling off Instagram and Facebook individually. Note that changing this feature only prevents your posts from being used in cross-promotions; you’ll still see other people’s Threads posts on Instagram and Facebook, irrespective of your privacy settings.

Some Threads users were upset about Meta automatically sharing their content from the nascent X competitor, mainly because people often use the apps to connect with different crowds (for example, Threads for news and politics with strangers, Facebook for extended family and old friends). TechCrunch highlighted several comments from people describing Threads posts automatically posted on other platforms as odd clickbait seemingly “designed to get comments” by stripping bold statements of context. In October, the company said it was “listening to feedback” in response to a Threads user’s complaint about automatic sharing to Meta’s more established platforms.

Meta is no stranger to using its existing stockpile of social apps to turbocharge its newest ones. It used easy onboarding and promotion via Instagram to vault Threads to the fastest app to reach 150 million downloads. Although growth appeared to slow after that, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said Threads had tallied nearly 100 million users. The Facebook founder said he sees a path for the Twitter clone to reach the one-billion user milestone.