Twitter rival Threads has tens of millions of users on its first day

The new microblogging platform from Meta officially launched on Wednesday. More than 30 million users have created accounts so far. Threads is a direct competitor of Twitter, which Elon Musk recently purchased. Twitter has since changed many of its user policies, such as requiring payments for certain services and limiting the number of tweets users can access per day.

So what exactly is Threads? Meta published a statement saying, “Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text.” It also said the app offers a platform for “real-time updates and conversations.” Celebrities such as pop singer Shakira, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have already created accounts.

Dig deeper: Read Samuel D. James’ column in WORLD Opinions about the surgeon general's warning of the dangers of social media, which came a decade late.