- Belgian pathologist and literary star gives 'voice to the dead'
- East Timor fights new battles 25 years after independence vote
- Oil prices drop on easing fears over Middle East, most markets rise
- Reoxygenating oceans: startups lead the way in Baltic Sea
- King Charles III heads to Australia and Commonwealth meeting
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
What we know about Threads, Meta's 'Twitter killer'
Threads, Mark Zuckerberg's Instagram-based challenge to dethrone Elon Musk's troubled Twitter, has already secured tens of millions of downloads, but it remains to be seen whether this Twitter rival will be a winning one.
- What is it? -
Threads is a text-based sidekick of Instagram, the image-heavy social network that Facebook bought more than a decade ago and became the world's most popular app for photo sharing.
You can't be a Threads user without being signed up to Instagram and Zuckerberg said that he ultimately aims to reach one billion users, or about half Instagram's current base.
The app is easily downloadable from Instagram, where users need just a few clicks to replicate their account on the new platform. This has propelled Threads to become the fastest downloaded app ever on Apple’s app store.
Once signed in, users have the same handle and inherit the same followers as they have on Instagram.
Verified accounts on Instagram are also verified on Threads, but be careful: you can only delete a Threads account by getting rid of your Instagram one, too.
- Is it the same as Twitter? -
If you don't like Twitter -- and many people don't -- you won't like Threads either, as the user interface is generally speaking very similar.
Zuckerberg joked about this in a meme tweet on Musk's platform, his first in 12 years, that featured an unexpected encounter between two identical superheros.
Users are allowed 500 characters in each post, can add a picture, five minutes of video and make replies, similar to the basic building blocks of Twitter.
But at this stage Threads is missing some key ingredients like search, hashtags, and a following only feed, meaning what you see is generated by an algorithm -- not who you follow.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said his teams were "cranking away" to provide more features as quickly as possible.
- Why not Europe? -
The birth of Threads comes just as a series of landmark laws governing big tech are coming into force in the European Union, including the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The DMA will govern so-called internet gatekeepers such as Meta, and one of the rules bans giants from combining personal data across several products, as would be the case with Threads and Instagram.
Mosser said the problems with Europe were just too large and that any solution would be "months and months away."
- What about the data? -
Meta's history with the handling of personal data is checkered and the company formerly known as Facebook is always on the search to win back trust, all while maximizing its huge profits.
At the root of the problem is Meta's revenue generator, targeted advertising which feeds off heavy intakes of personal data through Meta's platforms but also when tracked beyond them.
Threads' terms of service double down on Meta's business model, asking users to offer the site a wide berth to closely track their internet usage, something that will be very difficult for European regulators to let through.
- Who's in, who's out -
Like gaining entrance to a hot new night club, a group of celebrities, journalists and companies were offered an early VIP access to Threads, helping liven up its opening hours.
Singers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, basketball player Stephen Curry, creator Pharrell Williams and talk show icon Oprah Winfrey have already joined Threads and posted several messages.
Netflix, Spotify, Amazon and Coca-Cola have all opened official Threads accounts.
But some of Instagram's biggest account holders have yet to adopt the sister site. Lionel Messi, Dwayne Johnson, Justin Bieber and Beyonce have yet to venture to Threads.
O.Ignatyev--CPN