Threads is taking another page out of Twitter's book

Meta-owned Threads is implementing rate limits to combat bots on the platform just weeks after its rival Twitter imposed similar limits. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced the change via a Threads post yesterday (July 17).

Paulina Porizkova on approach to Instagram

“Spam attacks have picked up so we’re going to have to get tighter on things like rate limits, which is going to mean more unintentionally limiting active people (false positives),” Mosseri wrote. The change means that some Threads users may face a cap on how many posts they can view each day.

Twitter chief Elon Musk, who has threatened to sue Meta over Threads’ similarities to his platform, expressed amusement at the announcement, responding “lmaooo copy 🐈 [cat]” to a tweeted screenshot of Mosseri’s post. Twitter implemented its own temporary rate limits on July 1, due to what Musk dubbed “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.”

Twitter Blue users were given a cap of 6,000 post views per day, non-Blue accounts 600 posts per day, and new non-Blue accounts 300 posts per day. Musk then increased the respective read caps to 10,000, 1,000, and 500 tweets after facing pushback from users. Those limits were increased by 50% on July 16, Musk announced via tweet.

Mindful of the backlash Musk’s decision caused, Meta is trying to avoid alienating users with its own rate limits. “If you get caught up [in] those protections let us know,” Mosseri wrote on Threads.

Threads has been surging ahead in signups, but what about retention?

Threads, which launched on July 5, reached 100 million sign ups within just five days, earning it the title of fastest growing social media app in history. A recent study has found that the platform has higher user engagement compared to Twitter, but the new platform may struggle with maintaining user interest.

Data from market research firm Sensor Tower shows that Threads activity has dipped from a July 6 high, and user retention remains at just 16% following seven days after signup—sitting lower than Twitter user retention. Olivia Moore, a partner in Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a crypto and web3 venture capital firm, explained some of the problems with Threads user retention in a tweet pointing to a 40% drop in daily average users (DAUs).

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg does not appear to be concerned. “The focus for the rest of the year is improving the basics and retention. It’ll take time to stabilize, but once we nail that, then we’ll focus on growing the community. We’ve run this playbook many times (FB, IG, Stories, Reels, etc) and I’m confident Threads is on a good path too,” Zuckerberg said in a Threads post on July 17.

One more thing: Threads’ other trouble

While Mosseri is concerned about spam bots, US lawmakers are probing content moderation on Meta’s new micro-blogging platform. House judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) has asked (pdf) Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to provide documents on its policy amid a broader investigation into whether the Biden administration “coerced and colluded” with tech platforms to censor speech online.