Upon its launch, Threads became the fastest-growing consumer software application in history, gaining over 100 million users in its first five days and surpassing the record previously set by ChatGPT.

[3][4][5] After Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Meta employees explored the concept of introducing text-based functionality to Instagram.

[19] That month, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg—seeking to take advantage of the situation—discussed Twitter-like features the company could add to Instagram with the service's head, Adam Mosseri.

Moneycontrol obtained information about the app in March, and The Verge published details from an internal company-wide meeting in June.

The countdown expired on July 5 at 7:00 p.m. EDT after pushing the release date several hours further to account for international app stores,[26][20] and Threads officially launched in one hundred countries.

[27] Meta Platforms is currently awaiting regulatory clarification from the European Commission due to concerns and uncertainties regarding the service's data collection policies.

[28] Within a day of its launch, Threads garnered thirty million users, surpassing the previous record set by ChatGPT and making it the fastest-growing platform in history.

[29][30][31] On the same day, lawyers representing Twitter threatened legal action against Meta Platforms, alleging that the company had used trade secrets to develop the Threads app.

[35][36] Designed as a platform for real-time conversations and sharing, Threads aims to provide users with a similar experience to Twitter.

Threads prioritizes public dialogues over private communications, commonly known as microblogging, and is closely linked to Instagram, its sister social networking service.

[25] Accompanied by the launch of Threads, Meta announced their vision for the app to be a "positive and creative space to express your ideas".

[38] In response to user feedback,[39] Threads introduced a new home feed for posts along with several updates to the social media app.

[40] These changes included the capability to edit posts,[41] translation into multiple languages,[42] and an improved user interface for switching between different Threads accounts.

Meta team members said that they would continue this process and support more ActivityPub integration (as possibly only an 'opt-in' feature), taking "the better part of a year".

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that monetization would not take place until the app had "hundreds of millions" of users.

[73] On August 3, 2023, CNN wrote that Threads was facing challenges in retaining users and was considering the addition of "retention-driving hooks".

[75][76] Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims that the eventual decrease in users was 'normal', and said he anticipated retention to improve as new features were added to the platform.

Although some initial migration barriers might be short-lived, the enduring appeal of established platforms like Twitter poses a significant challenge.

Supporters of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reported that their messages on Threads were reposted and promoted at a higher rate compared to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

[82] Threads was used to great effect by DPP supporters to protest against 2024 reforms, proposed by the opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party, that would grant the Legislative Yuan more oversight over the executive branch.

[34] In July 2023, The Wall Street Journal raised concerns about the potential presence of Russian and Chinese government propaganda and disinformation on the platform, due to Threads not labeling state media accounts.