As ongoing issues at Twitter Inc. continued into today, rival social media company Meta Platforms Inc. looks set to launch an alternative service called “Threads” that could finally provide competition to Elon Musk’s increasingly troubled service.

The latest tale of woe at Twitter began on Friday, when users started seeing messages such as “rate limit exceeded” and “cannot retrieve tweets.” Users who were not logged into Twitter were unable to read tweets and were instead redirected to a signup page. Musk claimed that usage restrictions were put in place because of artificial intelligence companies scraping the service, allegedly causing issues with Twitter’s hosting.

Whether the true problem was AI scraping alone or Musk’s cost-cutting measures are open to argument, but whatever the real reason, with Meta set to launch a competitor, Musk now has a much large problem on the horizon.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta is set to release Threads “soon,” although exactly when is unclear. It’s being built on top of Instagram, and the service is expected to copy various features currently offered by Twitter.

How soon Threads may debut could be very soon, though several people spotted the app live on some app stores over the weekend. SiliconANGLE could not find the app, which could indicate it was either an accidental early release or it has been soft-launched only in some countries.

The name Threads as an app or service linked to Meta and Instagram dates back to 2019 when it was reported that Threads for Instagram would be an “intimate” message feature for Instagram. The version that has seemingly come about since, however, screams much more of a Twitter competitor than enhanced messaging for the users of the photo-sharing app.

The listing for the app describes it as “where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.”

Here's the store listing screenshots 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/kBK9OSRhNF

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) July 1, 2023

According to Business Insider, the app could use a decentralized protocol similar to upcoming Twitter alternatives Bluesky and Mastodon. The same report also claims that Instagram is recruiting celebrities such as Oprah and online influencers to onboard as early app users.

Unlike the smaller Twitter rivals, Meta, through Instagram, already has a massive audience it can pitch the new service to, although Meta’s history of successfully launching new services is not a good one. Meta’s successful services were obtained through acquisition — Instagram and WhatsApp, for example — but its list of failures is longer.

The list of failed services launched by Meta includes TikTok competitor Lasso, its cryptocurrency service Libra (later Diem), Flipboard competitor Facebook Paper, Snapchat Inc. rival Facebook Slingshot and question-and-answer service Friend.ly. That said, the ongoing woes at Twitter and growing discontent with Musk’s leadership mean that there has arguably never been a better time for Meta to launch a Twitter competitor.

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