Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s latest “Twitter killer” app Threads quickly found itself embroiled in a censorship controversy after warning users that Donald Trump Jr. could also be a source of misinformation — before the firm quickly backtracked.
Threads users who tried to follow the forty fifth president’s eldest son were greeted with the message: “Are you sure you would like to follow donaldjtrumpjr?”
“This account has repeatedly posted false information that was reviewed by independent fact-checkers or went against our Community Guidelines.”
Don Jr. posted a screenshot of the warning on rival Twitter on Thursday and called out the Instagram and Facebook boss.
“Threads not exactly off to an awesome start,” he wrote.
“Hey Instagram, threads is verbal, so the entire skimpy bikini thing isn’t going to work so well in case your influencers can’t actually formulate a sentence… IMHO you could need to rethink cutting off those that can.”
In response to Don Jr.’s tweet, Andy Stone, who heads communications for Meta, wrote: “This was an error and shouldn’t have happened. It’s been fixed.”
The warning label was then removed.
Don Jr. replied: “Okay thanks I appreciate that.”
The Post has sought comment from Meta.
The social media giant had banned Donald Trump from Instagram and Facebook for 2 years following the Jan. 6 riots.
Skeptics weren’t buying Stone’s claim that this was an innocent mistake.
“Isn’t it odd how errors at all times goal conservatives???” one Twitter user wrote.
One other commenter wrote: “Yeah however it did occur and we all know where Zuckerberg’s loyalties lie.”
Several other high-profile conservatives on social media said that their posts were being censored by Threads.
They thus pledged their loyalty to Twitter, which was acquired by Zuckerberg foe Elon Musk for the express purpose of allowing nearly unfettered speech.
“Facebook’s Threads is already censoring conservative voices on its platform, asking users in the event that they’re sure they need to follow conservatives due to ‘disinformation,’” tweeted conservative commentator Darren Grimes. “We must keep the blue bird of freedom alive. @elonmusk.”
“Imagine leaving Twitter, essentially the most free speech platform on the web — owned and operated by one in all the best free speech advocates of our time — to maneuver to Threads, an app that’s already engaging within the Censorship of Conservatives on day one,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson tweeted.
One other right-leaning social media referred to as “DC_Draino” tweeted: “Just downloaded and signed up for the brand new Meta app ‘Threads’ meant to mimic Twitter.”
“I posted once about wanting to reveal Biden’s corrupt government they usually’ve already flagged me for censorship…Great platform Zuck.”
Threads has drawn 50 hundreds of thousands users since launching Wednesday and is facing a possible legal fight with Musk.
In a letter Wednesday to Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, threatened to sue Meta and accused the firm of unlawfully using Twitter’s trade secrets and other mental property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat” app.
