Celebrities have already popped up on Metas highlyanticipated Twitter-like app Threadsahead of its Thursday launch while some international users will be left high and dry as Mark Zuckerbergs social media behemoth skips launching in European Union countries.
Screenshots frommultiple celebrity Threads accountsbegan circulating on social media on Wednesday, with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay joking, Is this where I find the lamb sauce ?? and pop star Shakira writing a simple Well hello Threads. Zuckerberg also chimed in, writing Lets do this. Welcome to Threads.
Some Threads posts were briefly visible in a desktop version of the site but Meta later pulled them down and replaced them with an error message stating Sorry, this page isnt available and a QR code to download the app.
While famous figures were already having fun on Threads, the app did not appear in searches of app stores in Germany, Spain, Italy, and France as of Wednesday. Listings in Apples App Store in the US and the United Kingdom allow users to pre-download the app ahead of its expected debut Thursday.
The apps absence in the EU reportedly stems from lingering uncertainty about the Digital Markets Act, which regulates how Big Tech firms share user data across multiple platforms.
Threads profiles went public. I can confirm that Netflix, Shakira, Gordon Ramsay already are there. Currently, no European personal data protection authority @EU_EDPB has set up an account. The European Commission @EU_Commission also does not have an account. #GDPR #ePrivacy pic.twitter.com/EaXWDjlnfr
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is waiting for more guidance on how the rules will affect Threads, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
EU regulators have cracked down on Metas operations in the region over the last few years, including a record $1.3 billion fine in May for transferring the data of European users to servers in the US.
On Tuesday, a top EU court shot down Meta’s challenge of an order by Germanys antitrust agency to stop collecting user data, Reuters reported.
Scrutiny over Metas practices has also intensified in the US, with the Wall Street Journal reporting last month that Instagrams recommendation algorithms had facilitated the existence of a vast pedophile network on the platform.
A Meta representative told Bloomberg that the company plans to release Threads in more than 100 countries to start and would add more over time, but declined to comment on why European Union nations appeared to be left off the initial list.
The Post has reached out to Meta for further comment.
Meta describes Threads as an online platform where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to whatll be trending tomorrow. The app will be closely tied to Instagram, with users able to use the same username and maintain their existing followers.
The text-based app is set to directly compete with Elon Musks Twitter, which has faced sharp criticism this week after the billionaire enacted limits on the number of tweets users could see per day.
One Meta executive described Threads as a sanely run alternative to Twitter which exacerbated the animosity that led Musk to challenge Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match. Musk responded to Threads upcoming launch by mocking its user data privacy plan.
One Meta executive, chief product officer Chris Cox, described Threads as a sanely run alternative to Twitter which exacerbated the animosity that led Musk to challenge Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match. Musk responded to Threads upcoming launch by mocking its user data privacy plan.
Cox also told employees that Meta was in talks with prominent figures to use the app including Oprah and the Dalai Lama,The Verge reportedlast month.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a “fake trial” in which his unusual sexual preferences have been unfairly criminalised and his “private sex life” turned into a “crime scene”, his defence team has argued in the final day of closing arguments.
At the end of week seven in the sex-trafficking trial, Combs’s lead counsel, Marc Agnifilo, told the court Combs was the victim of an overzealous prosecution, who had portrayed his “swinger” lifestyle as a racketeering conspiracy.
Image: Combs listens as his lawyer Marc Agnifilo makes his closing arguments. Pic: Reuters
Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two charges of sex trafficking, and two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has strenuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse. If found guilty, he could face being put behind bars for life.
Frequently adopting a sarcastic tone, Agnifilo mocked the government’s case against Combs, belittling the agents who seized hundreds of bottles of Astroglide lubricant and baby oil at his properties last year.
Commenting that America’s streets were now “safe from Astroglide”, he went on, “Way to go, fellas”, before adding, “you do you”.
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He said prosecutors had “badly exaggerated” the evidence against Combs, presenting “threesomes as racketeering”, arguing that he is not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
The defence also highlighted the prosecution’s decision to indict Combs on a racketeering conspiracy charge alone, flagging that no alleged co-conspirators have been indicted alongside him.
The defence’s closing arguments lasted for just over four hours, with members of Combs’s family, including six of his children and his mother, watching on in the public gallery.
Image: A court sketch of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Pic: Reuters
Agnifilo said Combs has “taken care of people”, including Jane, a former girlfriend who testified under a pseudonym, paying for her rent and for her legal representation.
The defence lawyer said: “I don’t know what Jane is doing today, but she’s doing it in a house he’s paying for.”
He went on: “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money. This is about money.”
Presenting the trial as a zero-sum game, he described his former girlfriend of almost 11 years Cassie Ventura as the “winner in this whole thing”, noting that she settled her civil case with Combs for $20m (£14m) in November 2023, as well as a $10m (£7.3m) from the InterContinental Hotel.
Cassie and Jane both gave evidence during the trial that they were coerced repeatedly by Combs to perform in drug-fuelled, days-long sex marathons with male sex workers, while Combs watched, directed, masturbated and sometimes filmed the encounters.
But the defence accused prosecutors of having invaded Combs’s bedroom and his most intimate personal affairs.
Agnifilo asked: “Where’s the crime scene? It’s [Combs’s] sex life.”
Continuing his line of sarcastic quips, he joked, “We need a bigger roll of crime scene tape”, referencing a line from the classic movie Jaws.
Agnifilio’s sarcasm irked the prosecution, who later complained to the judge that he was using “improper arguments”.
Image: Diddy and Cassie in 2016. Pic: zz/JMA/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
The defence characterised Combs’s relationship with Cassie as “a great modern love story”, going on to describe her as a “gangster” for cheating on him with rapper Kid Cudi.
They also characterised the “freak offs” as “beautiful”, saying the videos showed “everyone smiling”, eating and listening to music, and commenting that Combs was “not the only man in America making homemade porn”.
The defence admitted Combs was a domestic abuser, but said such behaviour did not justify the grave charges he faces.
Agnifilo advised the jury to “Call this as you see it,” asking them to “acquit Sean Combs of all the counts” and “return him to his family”, who he said has been waiting for him.
Combs, who has been in a New York jail since his arrest in September last year, did not give evidence during the trial.
Following the defence’s closing argument, assistant US attorney Maurene Comey delivered a rebuttal summation in which she said the defence’s argument that Cassie, Jane and Mia, a former employee who also testified under a pseudonym, all “wanted sex” was a lie, telling the court none of the women had reason to speak anything other than the truth.
She also said the “freak off” videos tell only “part of the story”.
Comey said Combs had spent the last 20 years believing himself to be “above the law”, seeing himself as “untouchable” and “a god among men”.
She said his impunity would end now in this courtroom, before urging the jury to “find him guilty” and “hold him accountable”.
On Monday, the judge will read the law to the jury, after which deliberations will begin.
To convict Combs, the 12 jurors must vote unanimously.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington will remain on medical leave for the rest of the season, the team announced Friday.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery will manage the team for what remains of 2025. Ryan Goins will serve as his bench coach going forward.
Washington, the oldest manager in the major leagues at 73, was placed on leave last Friday because of an undisclosed medical issue. He experienced shortness of breath and appeared fatigued toward the end of a four-game series at the New York Yankees that ended on June 19. Washington flew back to Southern California, underwent a series of tests and was placed on medical leave.
A longtime third-base coach and well-regarded infield instructor, Washington served as the Texas Rangers‘ manager from 2007 to 2014.
He was in his second year managing the Angels.
The Angels were 40-40 entering Friday night’s game against the visiting Washington Nationals, winning three straight under Montgomery and seven of 10 overall. Los Angeles has played better than most expected from a team with major league-worst streaks of nine straight losing seasons and 10 straight non-playoff seasons.
The 55-year-old Montgomery is getting his first job as a major league manager. The native of New York’s Westchester County is a former Houston Astros outfielder who served as the scouting director for Arizona and Milwaukee before joining the Angels as their director of player personnel for the 2020 season.
Montgomery became Los Angeles’ bench coach in 2021 after general manager Perry Minasian took over the front office, and he stayed with the Angels while Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin and Washington managed the club.
Goins played eight seasons in the major leagues before Washington hired him as the Angels’ infield coach before the 2024 season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Martinez (5-8) walked his third batter, Jackson Merrill, on a low full-count sinker, then retired 22 consecutive hitters before walking rookie Trenton Brooks starting the ninth. Diaz then drove an 0-1 changeup off the base of the wall in left-center on Martinez’s 112th and final pitch, which tied his career high.
A 34-year-old right-hander, Martinez struck out six as the Reds won for the fourth time in five games. He also threw 112 pitches for Texas against Boston on May 28, 2015.
Coming off a pair of relief appearances, Martinez made his first start since June 19. He entered with one complete game over 118 big league starts, an eight-inning effort in a loss at the Chicago Cubs last Sept. 27.
After Martinez allowed seven runs over 2⅔ innings against Minnesota, Reds manager Terry Francona suggested he make a relief appearance. Martinez threw two perfect innings at St. Louis two days later, and Martinez offered to making another bullpen outing to keep starter Brady Singer on turn. Martinez pitched a 1-2-3 innings against the Yankees on Monday.
Steer hit solo homers in the second and fourth innings off Dylan Cease (3-7), then a two-run drive against Yuki Matsui in a four-run fifth. Steer has nine home runs this season.