Revolutionizing Social Media and Privacy: Meta's Threads Goes Live Early, Twitter Gains Money Transmitter Licenses, and a Congressional Push

The Digital Frontier

TL;DR

• Meta's Threads: The social media giant launched its Twitter competitor early, resulting in an influx of new users sharing their first posts.
• Twitter's Financial Evolution: Twitter secured money transmitter licenses from New Hampshire, Michigan, and Missouri, marking a significant step towards its transformation into a financial service platform.
• Privacy Legislation: A bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act is under consideration in Congress. If passed, it would prevent government entities from purchasing private data about U.S. citizens, potentially leading to a significant shift in privacy norms.

Meta Launches Twitter Rival Threads Early

The social media landscape witnessed a major shift with the early launch of Threads, a new text-based social network by Meta, previously known as Facebook. Despite a countdown indicating a longer wait, the Threads app was released ahead of schedule and is now available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play store for Android. The Instagram-based platform immediately links to a user's Instagram account, encouraging them to follow the same accounts on Threads, effectively sidestepping the typical challenge of building a new social graph from scratch for a new social network.

The interface of Threads is noticeably less cluttered than Twitter's, while it retains most of the functions familiar to users of the "bird site": a main timeline of people and companies you follow, with options to reply to, like, reshare, and share individual posts, notifications, and search. The app does not feature clickable hashtags. The timeline and search views also recommend users to follow, which are predominantly verified celebrities.

Despite being an early version, the app has seen an influx of activity, including commentary about Twitter and Elon Musk, as well as a rush of launch-related activity. Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with the app's notifications and the default timeline, which includes posts from Instagram contacts and people those contacts follow.

Meta has promised that Threads will interoperate with the ActivityPub protocol, a distributed social media system best known for linking Mastodon servers. However, Threads' implementation is still incomplete, and several Mastodon servers have announced they will not federate with Threads, largely due to privacy concerns.

Twitter Awarded Three State Money Transmitter Licenses

In what could be a game-changing development for Twitter, the social media giant has been granted regulatory approval from three U.S. states - New Hampshire, Michigan, and Missouri, to serve as a money transmitter. This essentially paves the way for Twitter to expand into payments and other financial services.

The money transmitter licenses serve as regulatory instruments allowing a company to send, receive, and transfer funds for and among customers, both domestically and internationally. They also allow for currency exchange and issuing prepaid cards. The new approvals align with Elon Musk's vision of Twitter becoming an "everything app," a kind of digital town square where users can engage in a variety of activities, including making payments.

There has been speculation about Twitter possibly integrating cryptocurrencies into the platform, as Musk is a known backer of digital assets (sometimes). However, it is unclear if such plans will be implemented, with a rumored wallet feature being put on hold. Despite this, the money transmitter licenses do not exclude the possibility of crypto integration on Twitter.

Congress Could Abolish Government Practice of Buying Americans' Private Data

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act could potentially put an end to the US government's practice of buying the private data of its citizens without a warrant. The amendment, which has gained bipartisan support, follows a declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which revealed that intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been purchasing data described as "the same type" of information the US Supreme Court sought to protect against warrantless searches and seizures in 2018.

The amendment, proposed by representatives Warren Davidson and Sara Jacobs, seeks to establish stronger warrant requirements for the surveillance data collected from cell phones. The proponents argue that the government should not be allowed to circumvent constitutional protections by simply purchasing data from willing companies.

The proposed changes would primarily focus on people's web browsing and internet search history, along with GPS coordinates and other location information derived from cell phones. The amendment also contains an exception for anonymous information that could reasonably be expected to remain anonymous, a determination that would be made based on a judge's analysis of a case's individual characteristics.

Key Insight: Will Meta's Threads Thread the Needle of Social Media Success?

While Threads offers intriguing features, such as allowing external links and promising a less cluttered user experience, Meta's past behavior on platforms like Instagram and Facebook raises concerns about the potential for content restrictions. Will Threads be a real rival to Twitter or just another walled garden?

This becomes particularly significant when considering Twitter's recent direction under Elon Musk's leadership. Musk has been a vocal advocate for free speech on the platform, a factor that has undoubtedly contributed to Twitter's success.

Threads may be a new kid on the block, but it's not naive. It's courting the same audience, offering similar features, and eyeing the throne. But in the end, the success of a social media platform isn't just about the features it offers; it's about the conversation it fosters.

Meta must tread carefully. Too many restrictions might alienate users who crave open dialogue. Too few and it risks becoming a hotbed for the very issues it seeks to avoid. In this high-stakes game, the balance between content freedom and control could be the deciding factor in Threads' success or failure.

And that concludes our journey for today - until we meet again at 88 mph!

James