Threads account can't be deleted without wiping Instagram too
(NEXSTAR) – The excitement around a fresh social media platform can be so great that users don't even think about the day they might want to erase their account – something new adopters of Meta's Threads are already griping about Thursday.
In the wake of Elon Musk's shakeup of Twitter, alternative platforms such as Hive and Mastodon have tried to siphon away dissatisfied users, but when it comes to mass early adoption, Threads stands out. The Twitter rival surpassed 30 million sign ups Thursday morning, according to Mark Zuckerberg.
As the buzz around Threads spread, so did news of a particular line in the service's privacy policy.
"You may deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account."
Some who downloaded the app to give it a try – which Instagram users can do in a matter of seconds – found out deleting it was more complicated than they knew.
"I deactivated my threads account already but it turns out you can't delete your threads account *without also deleting your Instagram account* so maybe just don't sign up!" @emilyhughes tweeted.
Others accused Zuck of creating a "trap" to keep user information on Meta servers from the wave of sign-ups.
"We can't delete our threads account without deleting our ig?? they knew people would instantly hate it so they made it a saw trap," @ecto_fun tweeted.
Backlash over the policy prompted Instagram head Adam Mosseri to address the issue, TechCruch reported.
Mosseri explained:
To clarify, you can deactivate your Threads account, which hides your Threads profile and content, you can set your profile to private, and you can delete individual threads posts – all without deleting your Instagram account. Threads is powered by Instagram, so right now it's just one account, but we're looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately.