Thoughts Unboxed

Twitter has been facing challenges and declining user engagement for years. Recent developments, including its takeover by Elon Musk, have added to the woes of the embattled micro-blogging platform. Amidst this backdrop, new competitors are vying to seize a piece of Twitter's pie, with Meta's Instagram Threads emerging as a potential instant threat.   According to Apple's App Store Listing, Instagram Threads is set to launch on July 6th. An early listing on Google's Play Store was also discovered over the weekend. Interestingly, Meta has taken a cautious marketing approach, presenting the app as "Instagram Threads" rather than "Meta Threads," likely aiming to leverage Instagram's popularity while avoiding Facebook's negative publicity. A web portal, threads.net, displays a countdown timer for the app launch, scheduled for 9 AM CST on July 6th.   Instagram Threads could gain substantial traction given Twitter's ongoin

Another day, another data privacy investigation and another revelation. This time, it's about Meta's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) violations. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, faced a groundbreaking move today as it was hit with a staggering €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) fine by the European Union. This punitive measure came as a result of an intensive investigation by the EU's European Data Protection Board (EDPB) into Meta's questionable practice of transferring the personal data of millions of European citizens to Facebook servers based in the United States.  In the press release , the EDPB stated: The EDPB found that Meta IE’s infringement is very serious since it concerns transfers that are systematic, repetitive and continuous. Facebook has millions of users in Europe, so the volume of personal data transferred is massive. The unprecedented fine is a strong signal to organisations that serious infringements have far-reaching consequences.