On Thursday, when Instagram Threads launches in the US and UK, the European Union will have to wait, according to Independent.ie. The newspaper said it had contacted Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) and learned that the Threads service would not be coming to the EU at this time.
The reason it will be released in the UK on Thursday is that the country does not follow all EU privacy laws after Brexit. A similar scenario applies to Google's Bard AI which was launched in the UK but has yet to come to the EU.
According to the publication, the DPC does not block Instagram themes, but Meta is simply not bothering to release the platform in the EU to avoid confrontations with regulators. Those who want to use the service will have to wait until Meta adjusts it to comply with EU privacy laws.
The specific problem with Threads is that it will apparently pull data from Instagram, including health data, location, search history, and other sensitive information. The DPC had stopped Meta from running ads on WhatsApp that pull data from Facebook or WhatsApp.
Meanwhile the service website is already available, but contains a countdown to launch and a QR code you can scan with your phone to download the mobile apps.
If Meta makes an announcement on the day Threads launches, it could also give us an estimate of when it plans to launch the service in the EU.
