Threads will Soon Let Users Delete Accounts Separately from Instagram

Meta launched its text-based social platform Threads in July. The company faced criticism due to the absence of a dedicated account deletion option for Threads users without affecting their Instagram accounts. However, the company is now gearing up to introduce a feature that will let users delete the Threads accounts separately from Instagram by December.

Threads will Soon Let Users Delete Accounts Separately from Instagram

According to Michel Protti, Meta’s Chief Privacy Officer for Product, the company is actively working on implementing the Threads account deletion feature by December. Meta had to carefully consider how to address deletion requests initially. Protti explained that separating these two accounts at the time of Threads’ launch posed significant technical challenges.

Consequently, Meta introduced tools like deactivating the Threads account, setting it to private, or deleting individual threads to allow users to exercise their deletion rights.

Protti also mentioned that Meta is in the process of integrating Threads with the fediverse. They are also examining scenarios in which a Threads post is sent to another server and subsequently deleted by the author.

Following its July launch, Threads swiftly garnered 100 million sign-ups. Nevertheless, in recent months, the platform’s popularity has waned. Despite the introduction of highly anticipated features such as a following feed, a web app, and a comprehensive text search, the degree of user engagement falls short of Meta’s expectations.

During a recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Instagram Stories, Adam Mosseri, the head of the app, acknowledged that the company must enhance account recommendations, simplify messaging, and develop a post-editing feature to meet user expectations.