Illustration: The Verge If you've noticed more engagement bait appearing across your Threads feed, you're not alone. Meta is aware of the issue and looking at how to address it, according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. We've seen an increase in engagement-bait on Threads and we're working to get it under control," Mosseri said on Threads in response to comments flagging the issue.Engagement bait on Threads typically covers posts with banal questions or invites for open-ended discussions to encourage other users to interact. Because Threads, like Instagram, pushes users to see an algorithmic feed of posts by default, getting more interactions can snowball a simple post into virality.When asked about comparisons between Threads and X in a recent Decoder... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri is acknowledging recent mistakes in Meta's moderation processes on Threads and Instagram. For example, Meta unexpectedly deleted my account this week because it thought I was underage, the company locked my colleague's account because she joked about dying in a heatwave, and others have seen their posts disappear with no clear reason why. Threads Moderation Failures" has been trending this week - putting more pressure on Meta's moderation processes.Now Mosseri admits that Meta is having problems with those processes and has publicly posted that acknowledgment on Threads. He explains there's a tool" that broke, which apparently did not show human reviewers sufficient context" before they made posts and... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Meta is adding an activity status" to Threads so that you can see who's actively online as you're scrolling your feed. In a post, Threads boss Adam Mosseri pitches it as a way to help you find others to engage with in real-time." The activity status will show up next to your profile picture in the feed and on your profile, based on screenshots Mosseri shared. Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge A screenshot of Adam Mosseri's post about the feature on Threads - look for the green dots. Fortunately, if you don't want people to know when you're online, you don't have to share that. Only people who have activity status turned on will be able to see when you're online, and you can turn this off within your... Continue reading...

Jack Sweeney says that 38 of his jet tracking accounts have been suspended. | Illustration: The Verge Meta has suspended several Threads and Instagram accounts that track the private jets of celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian, and former US president Donald Trump.Jack Sweeney, who gained notoriety for his @ElonJet account on X and maintained many of the suspended accounts, said on Threads that the development is reminiscent of all my accounts getting suspended on Twitter." The shuttered accounts, which used publicly available data to show the flight paths of private jets, initially displayed a message on Monday that read, The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed."Meta provided no direct warning or explanation for the suspensions, according to Sweeney, who says the... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Bluesky might be on the rise, but Instagram and Threads boss Adam Mosseri wants you to know that Threads is still much bigger. In a post on Thursday, Mosseri said that Threads has gotten more than 15 million signups in November alone," seemingly trying to throw some cold water over Bluesky crossing 15 million users total on Wednesday.Mosseri also reiterated that the platform has been getting more than a million signups per day - a stat that CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed during last month's earnings call - and noted that the platform has been seeing that volume of signups for going on three months."Many people have been jumping to Bluesky looking for a new place to post that's not X, which is owned by Donald Trump supporter Elon... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Just five days after Meta started testing custom feeds in Threads, the company is already rolling them out to everyone. With custom feeds, you can track topics and accounts in one feed, making it easier to keep an eye on specific things that matter to you.To make a custom feed, search for a topic, then click on the three dots menu next to the search bar, and then click on the Create new feed" option. Custom feeds can also contain information about multiple topics - just add a new one from a search or, on desktop, from the three dots menu next to a feed. You can add individual accounts to custom feeds, too, giving you a lot of flexibility on what's contained in that feed.The quick rollout of the feature follows increased pressure... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Threads will now let users decide what feed they want as their default when opening the app. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news in a post, saying that you'll be able to choose between For You, Following, or any custom feed that you've set up. Zuckerberg's post notes that Threads is testing" this option and will also different feeds more visible" in the app.It took over a year to get here, but Threads is finally doing the obvious thing and allowing people to use the app however they prefer. Hopefully this test expands to all users before long.If you're in the test, here's how to set your default feed: open the Threads app and tap and hold on any feed at the top. From there, choose edit feeds," and that's where you'll... Continue reading...