Meta’s answer to Twitter, Threads, launched worldwide this week with the exception of EU member countries.
The new Instagram-linked app, which is now available in 100 countries, so far has no plans to launch in the EU, likely due to privacy regulations in the bloc.
There are obviously very strong concerns over the processing of data of EU citizens, as Meta has been penalized by the bloc’s data protection watchdogs in recent months.
The company has already informed the Irish Data Protection Commission that it has no plans to launch Threads in Europe, reported The Irish Times.
So far, Meta has not officially commented on the alleged issues with EU law. But it has not been actively blocked by the Irish regulators, which serves as Brussels’ lead privacy enforcer.
The company seems to be figuring out how to launch its app in the EU, due to its stringent rules around data protection.