Current:Home > StocksMeta's Threads wants to become a 'friendly' place by downgrading news and politics -AssetScope
Meta's Threads wants to become a 'friendly' place by downgrading news and politics
View
Date:2025-04-13 16:27:19
Days after the public launch of Twitter rival Threads, Meta executive Adam Mosseri was surprisingly transparent about the company's distaste for the news media: Meta will not be doing anything to encourage hard news and politics on the platform, he wrote.
Amid Twitter's turmoil under Elon Musk, more than 100 million people have rushed to join Threads, making it the most swiftly adopted app in history.
But if Meta executives have their way, Threads will not be where people turn to debate policy issues, or catch up on local political developments and learn about breaking news that could affect their lives.
Instead, Threads is being offered as a text-version of Instagram, where celebrities, influencers and corporate brands dominate. Or as Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg put it, a "friendly" shelter from the noisy and chaotic world of news and politics.
"Will this decision make society dumber?" Solomon Messing, a former Facebook research scientist said in an interview with NPR. "Gosh, it's really hard not to say yes."
News isn't a big social media moneymaker
Messing, who is now a research professor at New York University, has published research examining how social media shapes the public's grasp of politics and news events, and how being exposed to news on social media influences someone's likelihood to vote.
The conclusion was fairly obvious.
"When folks see more political content in their news feeds, they tend to become more interested in politics," Messing said. "They tend to develop more consistent policy preferences. They tend to report voting at higher rates."
Yet to Meta, the business case is straightforward: Want a big return on investment, or ROI? Then start pushing anything other than news and politics.
Messing adds: "What's the ROI on being a politics-focused social network versus a celebrity-focused social network?"
Alex Stamos, former chief security officer at Facebook, said the company learned long ago that the news industry needs social media platforms more than the platforms need the news.
"Overall, the amount of engagement and therefore money the company makes from hard news has shown to be quite small," Stamos said.
Political drama has plenty of fans
What keeps people scrolling so persistently that it supercharges advertising revenue? "Interactions between individuals, the family photos, the influencers, things like that," he said.
Meta can turn the knobs up or down for certain kinds of content, Stamos said. For instance, Threads could de-emphasize posts that include a link to a news organization. "They'll be trying to strike the right balance between their desire to stay relevant counterbalanced with their desire to not be pulled into controversies," Stamos said.
But saying Threads is not interested in courting political drama is not going to stop it, especially with such an influx of users coming over from Twitter, which is, as Stamos put it, "effectively an intellectual gladiator coliseum. People are there to see blood on the floor."
Many of those departing Twitter because of Musk's changes to the platform are left-leaning critics of Musk who tweet obsessively about news and politics. So if Threads does not encourage discourse about politics, it might leave them without a real replacement social media app.
But can Meta really avoid the combative tenor of Twitter? It is an open question, Stamos argues, but he said Threads is kidding itself by saying it can be something of an online town square without fierce political debates.
"Whatever they're saying publicly, they clearly want to displace Twitter. And in order to do that they have to become a very important platform for political speech," Stamos said.
Meta has de-emphasized news before
In some ways, Meta's growing distance from the news industry is nothing new.
In 2016, Facebook made major changes to its algorithm to favor posts from friends and family over news articles. That decision eviscerated the traffic publishers once received from the social network.
On Instagram, major news organizations promote stories that can garner impressive engagement, but it is usually drowned out by much lighter content showing off vacations, weddings and lifestyle trends.
Then there is the Russia controversy that former Facebook employees say the company is still smarting from.
After the 2016 presidential election, American intelligence agencies found that Russian-linked disinformation campaigns created posts around divisive, hot-button topics that reached many millions in an attempt to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
In 2020, Russia-backed groups attempted to meddle again in a presidential election by pushing conspiracy theories on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but the efforts reached a far smaller audience.
Taken together, Meta executives want Threads to be a platform that makes the maximum amount of money, while steering clear of the kind of scrutiny that was heaped upon the company in the wake of the 2016 election.
But Brian Ott, a social media scholar who teaches at Missouri State University, said online platforms like Threads have a responsibility to encourage, not discourage, political debate and discussions that can influence how people engage in their communities and vote.
Ott said Meta is attempting to position Threads as an anti-Twitter Twitter, when in fact it is essentially a clone service.
"What Meta is engaged in right now is a marketing effort to try to tell people, 'hey this isn't going to be what happened last time,' well, in fact, it is going to be what happened last time," Ott said. "It's going to be exactly what happened last time. Because the fundamental technology hasn't changed."
veryGood! (31698)
Related
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- YouTuber Aspyn Ovard Reveals Whether She'd Get Married Again After Parker Ferris Split
- Man now faces murder charge for police pursuit crash that killed Missouri officer
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Floor Plans
- Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
- What time does 'The Golden Bachelorette' start? Premiere date, cast, where to watch and stream
- Washington gubernatorial debate pits attorney general vs. ex-sheriff who helped nab serial killer
- Edwin Moses documentary ’13 Steps’ shows how clearing the hurdles was the easy part for a track icon
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- What to make of the Pac-12, Georgia? Who wins Week 4 showdowns? College Football Fix discusses
Ranking
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- When does 'The Penguin' come out? Release date, cast, where to watch the new 'Batman' series
- Woman accused of driving an SUV into a crowd in Minneapolis and killing a teenager
- Eva Mendes Reveals Whether She'd Ever Return to Acting
- Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
- Police shift focus in search for Kentucky highway shooting suspect: 'Boots on the ground'
- Federal Reserve is set to cut interest rates for the first time in 4 years
- First and 10: Texas has an Arch Manning problem. Is he the quarterback or Quinn Ewers?
Recommendation
Chuck Scarborough signs off: Hoda Kotb, Al Roker tribute legendary New York anchor
Sean Diddy Combs Denied $50 Million Bond Proposal to Get Out of Jail After Sex Trafficking Arrest
Ping pong balls thrown at Atlanta city council members in protest of mayor, 'Cop City'
'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story': Release date, cast, trailer, where to watch
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
Texas pipeline fire continues to burn in Houston suburb after Monday's explosion
2-year-old fatally struck by car walked onto highway after parents put her to bed
New Study Suggests Major Climate Reports May Be Underestimating Drought Risks