Twitter blocks links to rival Threads as concerns around user base grow

Meta launched its Twitter rival app Threads on July 5 and since then the app has gained more than 100 million users. Although Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino has denied that Twitter’s user base is shrinking, the company seems to be worried about its rival’s popularity. Also Read: Instagram Launches Limited-Edition Diwali Filters: Here’s How To Use Them

Twitter users have reported that the platform is blocking links to Threads’ website in its search results to make it harder for people to find Threads conversations or profiles. Also Read: Meta AI Adds UPI Lite, Hindi Support, and Deepika Padukone’s Voice to Ray-Ban Glasses in India

Andy Baio was one of the Threads users who noticed this change on Twitter. Searching for “url:threads.net” did not show any tweets with links to the website, even though there were many tweets with threads.net links. Also Read: Meta Wants Employees To Build The Metaverse 5X Faster Using AI

Posting the screenshot of the search result on Threads, he said, “Twitter is selectively blocking searches for tweets that link to Threads, even though they allow posting Threads URLs (for now).”

However, a simple search without the “url:” operator shows tweets that mention threads.net website or Threads usernames but it seems that Twitter has blocked direct links to Threads discussions on the platform. 

A report by TechCrunch said that this is not the first time Twitter has done something like this. The platform, under the leadership of Musk, has blocked links to the websites of its rivals earlier too.  

For instance, Twitter has also censored links to Substack, a newsletter platform, when it launched its own discussions feature, Substack Notes. Twitter users were not allowed to reply to, like, or retweet those links. 

On July 11, Twitter CEO Yaccarino in a tweet claimed that the platform recently had its largest usage day since February. 

“Don’t want to leave you hanging by a thread… but Twitter, you really outdid yourselves! Last week we had our largest usage day since February. There’s only ONE Twitter. You know it. I know it,” Yaccarino tweeted. 

Don’t want to leave you hanging by a thread… but Twitter, you really outdid yourselves! Last week we had our largest usage day since February. There’s only ONE Twitter. You know it. I know it. 🎤

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 10, 2023

Her remark has come at a time when a report from CNBC has claimed that Twitter’s web traffic fell 5% in the first two days after Threads became available, compared with the previous week.

Meanwhile, Twitter has threatened to sue Meta for allegedly using its trade secrets and poaching its former employees to build the new “copycat” platform.

Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the company of engaging in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property”, reports Semafor. 

“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Spiro wrote in a letter.