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Ads on Threads 'not the priority right now,' says Head of Instagram

Meta wants to ensure its new Twitter clone is sustainable before revving up the ad train.

Donovan Erskine

July 6, 2023 8:38 AM

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Meta decided to launch Threads, its new Twitter clone, a few hours early yesterday evening. Allowing users to register using their Instagram credentials, the platform quickly amassed over 10 million sign-ups in its first seven hours. Given Meta’s notorious history with aggressive ad implementation, some users have already begun speculating when and how the Facebook and Instagram company will start introducing ads to its new social media app, but Meta says it’s not really worried about that right now.

The quote comes directly from Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, who is also leading the charge on Threads. In response to a post from user pompglobal about how Mark Zuckerberg is “salivating” at the chance to drop ads on the millions of new Threads users, Mosseri stated that getting ads onto Threads is “honestly not the priority right now.” Going on to say that the company is more concerned with making sure Threads is “an app people want to keep using before we worry about making money.”

Post by @mosseri View on Threads

The Zuck himself chimed in as well, stating “our approach will be the same as all our other products: make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point.”

It’s an interesting pair of quotes coming from the leadership at Meta, a company notorious for its ruthless ad business. It’s been a key criticism of Facebook and Instagram over the years (alongside some sensible privacy concerns) so we’ll be quite curious to see how the implementation is handled on the new platform. For now, enjoy the rare ad-free social media experience while it lasts. In the meantime, Meta is concerned with addressing a number of requested features and fixes for Threads, including a following tab, hashtags, a proper website, and post searching.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_