Meta’s latest app Threads, positioned as a potential Twitter/Facebook rival, is seeing political discussions emerge on its platform despite efforts to avoid it. Threads began testing its Twitter-like trends feature last month with a small group of U.S. users, and now it is more widely available to users across desktop and mobile, according to user reports. While Instagram notes that it is still in the testing phase, the trends on Threads are appearing to be more politically focused.
As of now, three of the top five search trends on Threads are related to President Biden’s State of the Union address, including reactions to the speech, the Republican response, and the situation involving Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Image Credits: Threads screenshot
The dominance of SOTU-related topics in Threads’ trends indicates that users tend to use real-time platforms like Threads to discuss current events, particularly polarizing issues such as those from Biden’s address.
Meta has historically distanced itself from political content on its platforms following criticism of bias. However, Threads seems to be embracing political discourse in its trends feature.
While Instagram has made changes to limit political content recommendations, Threads continues to allow political discussions in its trends section.
It remains to be seen how long Threads will maintain political content in its trends before potentially transitioning to more neutral topics.
Updated, 3/8/24, with Instagram statement. The company confirms the test is ongoing in the U.S.
