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Meta won’t let anyone in the European Union use its Threads app by blocking it in all ways possible. That includes the use of a VPN to circumvent the current unavailability of the app in the region. Nonetheless, the Facebook and Instagram parent company still expressed hope that it would be able to bring the service to the EU “in the future.”
Threads now has 111 million users, and the craze about the new platform seems to continue. Unfortunately, EU-based users won’t be able to participate in this due to the app’s data privacy policy clash with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Despite this, some EU-based users are still hopeful to use the app in the place. Yet, as expected, the app doesn’t work in any EU region, even with a VPN. Different users posted their experiences, confirming the situation. Meta also confirmed the action to TechCrunch.
“Threads is not currently available in most countries in Europe, and we’ve taken additional steps to prevent people based there from accessing it at this time,” the company told the online newspaper website. “Europe continues to be an incredibly important market for Meta and we hope to make Threads available here in the future.”
Threads’ privacy and data collection policy currently prevents it from entering the EU market. Co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and current Twitter owner Elon Musk pointed it out in a recent tweet, sharing a screenshot of the data the app will collect from users. Despite this, the launch of the app was a hit, and it even reached its 100 million mark in just a few days. Moreover, according to Apple’s weekly app rankings, Threads hit the first spot for the top free iPhone app last week.
Unfortunately, this Threads buzz and the app’s absence in the EU gave questionable developers the idea to create copycat versions of the app for EU customers. This week, Apple kicked out a content generator app called “Threads for Insta” by SocialKit LTD. According to reports, it reached App Store’s top charts and gained 300,000 downloads before being kicked out by Apple. It reportedly ranked #1 in Switzerland and dominated the social media section of the App Store in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
