Threads doesn’t need ‘negativity’ of hard news, politics: Meta exec

YuanIt’s been less than two days since the company’s new Threads app went live, but one of the company’s executives believes that prioritizing news and political speech on the platform is “simply not worth” the obvious business and “platform” shortcomings.

Adam Mosseri, responsible for Instagram and Instagram-powered text-based Threads, commented on an article unusually candid post Friday on the new social network.

In response to a reporter’s question about Threads, he wrote: “Politics and hard news will inevitably end up on Threads — and to some extent, on Instagram — but we’re not going to do anything to encourage those verticals. .” Replacing Twitter for News Industry Professionals.

“Politics and hard news matter,” Mosseri continued. “But my view is that from a platform perspective, any incremental engagement or revenue they might generate is simply not worth the scrutiny, negativity (let’s be honest) or integrity risk that comes with it.”

Meta representatives did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on whether Meta would downgrade news or political content on Threads, as the company regularly does on Threads. other platform.

Mosseri’s comments come as Meta is working to stop the government from forcing the company to pay newsrooms for the content Meta uses for advertising and engagement.

For example, in Canada. The new legislation would require Meta to pay Canadian newsrooms, costing Google and Meta billions of dollars in ad revenue, an estimated $329 million.

In response, Meta blocked Canadian media from appearing in Meta and Instagram search results, a restriction that may apply to Threads if the platform’s search capabilities are expanded. Google implemented similar restrictions shortly after.

Yuan employed Australia passed similar laws in 2022, using the same technology.

While Twitter falls apart under Elon Musk, Mosseri owns it conceded goal was the impetus behind the launch of Threads — a platform that government agencies, politicians and journalists rely on to disseminate breaking news and emergency notifications.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.