In the latest sign that Meta’s new Twitter lookalike Threads isn’t likely to capture the essence of its predecessor, the company is apparently actively uninterested in cultivating its new app into a convenient hub of breaking news and world events.
In an answer to a question from Alex Heath of The VergeInstagram head Adam Mosseri, also currently the default hype man for Threads, said Meta’s goal isn’t to replace Twitter, but rather “to create a public square for communities on Instagram that never really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) interested in a less angry place for conversation, but not all of Twitter.”
He continued:
“Politics and hard news are important, I would not suggest otherwise. But my view is that, from a platform’s perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they could generate is not at all worth scrutinizing, negativity (let’s face it) or integrity risks that come with it.
There are more than enough great communities – sports, music, fashion, beauty, entertainment, etc – to make a vibrant platform without having to get into politics or hard news.”
Mosseri’s view here is strange and quite alarming for a number of reasons. First, it reflects some of the anodyne ways Facebook has described itself over the years: just a big, friendly, neutral place for people to “connect” – Mark Zuckerberg’s favorite pitch and one that conjures up images of a male and female USB cable. making out. Contrary to his declared neutrality, his company ritually incentivized certain forms of content and behavior, driving Facebook users deeper into ideological echo chambers while fanning the flames of polarization and extremism that plague global politics today.
As a former head of Facebook’s News Feed, Mosseri knows all this, but seems to be taking the wrong lessons.
After being intimidated by his embarrassing failures during the 2016 presidential election and its subsequent role in hosting the Stop the Steal movement, which culminated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Facebook chose to rename and back out. It’s strange that Mosseri claims that Meta’s desire for a social network that floats in a vacuum and can never influence the world for good or ill is in any way achievable.
Of course, “political and hard news” will find their way into Threads; they already have – see anti-LGBTQ hate group Libs or TikTok testing the waters there. Without Meta’s investment in or preparation for counterforces, extremism and viral disinformation will outnumber any legitimate news sources that choose to invest resources in the new app.
Meta clearly has no interest in boosting journalism these days. The company has long been happy to get what it wants out of news organizations, offering bait and switch tactics in return, if any. Meta is currently block access to news in Canada to protest a new law requiring the tech giant to compensate publishers. (The company is currently worth $745 billion.)
Aside from Meta’s anti-journalism crusade, Mosseri’s take on the public square is nothing short of ahistorical.
Instagram and Now Threads are obsessively designed to mix up normal users along with brands, encouraging commercial activity every step of the way. And while the lofty idea of a virtual public square or town hall is often invoked by social media executives to advance the day’s agenda, public squares are not just the domain of commerce and commerce. Historically, they are also the heart of culture and a place for political discourse – in itself an annoying and unavoidable side effect of existence within a society.
Certainly Mark Zuckerberg – one self-proclaimed classic of antiquity WHO named his children after Roman emperors – would know that the Roman Forum was not just a rustic shopping mall, but a place where people could gather, mingle in political life and hear the news of the day.
Meta’s push for a pared-down, commercialized version of public life filled to the brim with ads fits the company’s narrow vision, but it’s a disappointing, if predictable turn for a promising Twitter successor to attract so little interest. display in the world itself.