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Meta has officially debuted its Twitter-like messaging app Threads, which the company is pitching as Instagram’s “text-based conversation app.”

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO and co-founder, announced the debut of Threads on Wednesday, marking the official release of the social networking giant’s new text-focused messaging app. Threads represents Meta’s attempt to capture the wave of users who have left Twitter amid the often unpredictable ownership of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

The Threads app is now available to download for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play online store in over 100 countries, Meta said in a blog post. Threads shares Twitter’s visual aesthetic as a text-based social messaging app in which users can post short messages that others can like, share, and comment upon, according to screenshots of Threads that are available on Apple’s App Store.

People will be able to follow the same Threads accounts that they follow on Instagram and reply to other public posts in a way akin to how people use Twitter.

The official release comes after Instagram released on Monday a pre-order for Threads on the Apple App Store, which said that at the time that the app was expected to debut on July 6. Many Instagram users were also recently able to obtain invitations to access Threads from within their Instagram accounts.

Although Threads is linked to Instagram, with users able to use their existing Instagram usernames, the messaging service is a separate app that people will need to download.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” Instagram said in a description of Threads on the Apple App Store. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

Meta said in the blog post that people’s individual feeds on the new messaging app will include “threads” that were posted by other users that they follow, in addition to recommended content shared from creators who users may not know.

People will be able to publish Threads posts that are up to 500 characters long, and while the app is geared toward text, people will also be able so share links, photos and videos that can be as long as 5 minutes. Instagram users will also be able to share their Threads posts via the app’s story feature in addition to “any other platform you choose,” the blog post said.

Meta said that it developed Threads “with tools to enable positive, productive conversations,” and people will be able to manage who is mentioning or is replying to them within the app.

“Like on Instagram, you can add hidden words to filter out replies to your threads that contain specific words,” the blog post said. “You can unfollow, block, restrict or report a profile on Threads by tapping the three-dot menu, and any accounts you’ve blocked on Instagram will automatically be blocked on Threads.”

Racing into the gap as Twitter implodes

The release of Threads comes as Twitter has suffered a wave of mishaps under the ownership of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, leaving the popular social messaging app vulnerable to competing apps.

Most recently, Musk said that Twitter users will only be able to see a certain number of Tweets per day in an attempt to deal with “extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation” on the messaging service.

Numerous Twitter users publicly complained about Musk imposing a temporary so-called “rate limit” on Twitter, saying that the Tweet limits make the app a less engaging experience.

BlueSky, a rival social messaging app that is backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said that it recorded “record-high traffic” after Musk announced the Twitter rate limit, and it temporarily paused sign-ups to deal with the influx of new users, who must currently be invited to use the app.

Like BlueSky, Threads will use decentralized technology that theoretically lets users control and manage their data across other apps that incorporate the same underlying software.

Whereas BlueSky is built on the decentralized networking technology dubbed the AT Protocol, Threads will eventually incorporate another decentralized technology called ActivityPub, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a Threads post on Wednesday that was briefly available to the public. The ActivityPub software also powers another Twitter-like messaging app called Mastadon, which has also experienced an influx of new users seeking an alternative to Twitter.

Mosseri said that his team wasn’t able to include support for ActivityPub in time for Threads’ official release because of “a number of complications that come along with a decentralized network.” But he reiterated that support is coming.

“If you’re wondering why this matters, here’s a reason: you may one day end up leaving Threads, or, hopefully not, end up de-platformed,” Mosseri said. “If that ever happens, you should be able to take your audience with you to another server. Being open can enable that.”

Meta added in its blog post that ActivityPub will enable people without Threads accounts to view Threads and interact with Threads users who have public profiles via other social apps that incorporate the same decentralized technology.

“If you have a public profile on Threads, this means your posts would be accessible from other apps, allowing you to reach new people with no added effort,” Meta said in the blog post. “If you have a private profile, you’d be able to approve users on Threads who want to follow you and interact with your content, similar to your experience on Instagram.”

Meta said that Threads is the company’s first app “envisioned to be compatible with an open social networking protocol,” which it believes could usher “in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks.”

In 2019, Meta, then known as Facebook, debuted a messaging app for Instagram users that was also called Threads. Unlike the current iteration of Threads that caters to text-based messages, the previous Threads app was instead centered around people sending short video and photo messages to their friends like they were using Snapchat.

Meta eventually shuttered Threads in 2021, and redirected people to use Instagram to see all their previous Threads messages.

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Meta removes Facebook page allegedly used to target ICE agents after pressure from DOJ

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Meta removes Facebook page allegedly used to target ICE agents after pressure from DOJ

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a roundtable on “Antifa,” an anti-fascist movement he designated a domestic “terrorist organization” via executive order on September 22, at the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 8, 2025.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Meta removed a Facebook group page on Tuesday that was allegedly used to “dox and target” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Chicago after being contacted by the Department of Justice.

Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed the Facebook takedown in an X post, and said that the DOJ “will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.”

A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the tech giant removed the Facebook group page, but declined to comment about its size and the specific details that warranted its removal.

“This Group was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm,” the Meta spokesperson said in a statement that also referred to the company’s policies pertaining to “Coordinating Harm and Promoting Crime.”

Meta’s removal of the Facebook group page follows similar moves from rivals like Apple and Google, which have recently removed apps that could be used to anonymously report sightings of ICE agents and other law enforcement.

Read more CNBC tech news

Apple took down the ICEBlock app nearly two weeks ago following pressure from Bondi, who said at the time that the app was “designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs.”

Apple said at the time in a statement that it removed the ICEBlock app based on information provided by law enforcement about alleged “safety risks.”

Google, which did not maintain the ICEBlock app on its app store, said in October that while the DOJ never contacted the search giant, the company removed “similar apps for violations of our policies.”

ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron criticized both Apple and the White House in an interview with CNBC, and compared his app to others like Waze, which let drivers report when they see law enforcement officers in order to avoid getting ticketed for speeding.

“This is about our fundamental constitutional rights in this country being stripped away by this administration, and the powers that be who are capitulating to their requests,” Aaron said.

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OpenAI forms expert council to bolster safety measures after FTC inquiry

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OpenAI forms expert council to bolster safety measures after FTC inquiry

OpenAI’s EMEA startups head Laura Modiano spoke at the Sifted Summit on Wednesday, 8 October.

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OpenAI on Tuesday announced a council of eight experts who will advise the company and provide insight into how artificial intelligence could affect users’ mental health, emotions and motivation. 

The group, which is called the Expert Council on Well-Being and AI, will initially guide OpenAI’s work on its chatbot ChatGPT and its short-form video app Sora, the company said. Through check-ins and recurring meetings, OpenAI said the council will help it define what healthy AI interactions look like.

OpenAI has been expanding its safety controls in recent months as the company has faced mounting scrutiny over how it protects users, particularly minors.

In September, the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into several tech companies, including OpenAI, over how chatbots like ChatGPT could negatively affect children and teenagers. OpenAI is also embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit from a family who blames ChatGPT for their teenage son’s death by suicide.

Read more CNBC tech news

The company is building an age prediction system that will automatically apply teen-appropriate settings for users under 18, and it launched a series of parental controls late last month. Parents can now get notified if their child is showing signs of acute distress, for instance.

OpenAI said it began informally consulting with members of its new expert council as it was building its parental controls. The company brought on additional experts in psychiatry. psychology and human-computer interaction as it formalized the council, which officially launched with an in-person session last week.

In addition to its expert council, OpenAI said it is also working with researchers and mental health clinicians within the Global Physician Network who will help test ChatGPT and establish company policies. 

Here are the members of OpenAI’s Expert Council on Well-Being and AI:

  • Andrew Przybylski, a professor of human behavior and technology at the University of Oxford. 
  • David Bickham, a research scientist in the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. 
  • David Mohr, the director of Northwestern University’s Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies.
  • Mathilde Cerioli, the chief scientist at Everyone.AI, a nonprofit that explores the risks and benefits of AI for children.
  • Munmun De Choudhury, a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing. 
  • Dr. Robert Ross, a pediatrician by training and the former CEO of The California Endowment, a nonprofit that aims to expand access to affordable health care. 
  • Dr. Sara Johansen, a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University who founded its Digital Mental Health Clinic.
  • Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a professor of psychology at Hunter College.

If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor

WATCH: FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions

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Oracle Cloud to deploy 50,000 AMD AI chips, signaling new Nvidia competition

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Oracle Cloud to deploy 50,000 AMD AI chips, signaling new Nvidia competition

We're still early in the AI cycle, says Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure on Tuesday announced it will deploy 50,000 Advanced Micro Devices graphics processors starting in the second half of 2026.

AMD shares climbed about 2%. Oracle shares sank 4% while Nvidia was more than 3% lower.

The move is the latest sign that cloud companies are increasingly offering AMD’s graphics processing units as an alternative to Nvidia’s market-leading GPUs for artificial intelligence.

“We feel like customers are going to take up AMD very, very well — especially in the inferencing space,” said Karan Batta, senior vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Oracle will use AMD’s Instinct MI450 chips, which were announced earlier this year.

They are AMD’s first AI chips that can be assembled into a larger rack-sized system that enables 72 of the chips to work as one, which is needed to create and deploy the most advanced AI algorithms.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared with AMD CEO Lisa Su at a company event in June to announce the product.

Read more CNBC tech news

Earlier this month, OpenAI announced a deal with AMD for processors requiring 6 gigawatts of power over multiple years, with a 1-gigawatt rollout starting in 2026. As part of the deal, and if the deployment goes well, OpenAI may end up owning as many as 160 million shares of AMD, or about 10% of the company.

In September, OpenAI entered into a five-year cloud deal with Oracle that could be worth as much as $300 billion.

OpenAI has historically been closely linked with Nvidia, whose chips were used to develop ChatGPT. Nvidia’s chips dominate the market for data center GPUs with more than 90% market share. Nvidia also invested in OpenAI in September.

But OpenAI leaders say the company needs as much computing power as possible, which means it needs AI chips from multiple suppliers. OpenAI also has plans to design its own AI chips with Broadcom.

“I think AMD has done a really fantastic job, just like Nvidia, and I think both of them have their place,” Batta said.

Tuesday at Oracle AI World, founder and Chairman Larry Ellison is set to take the stage and share his views on the latest OpenAI deal and what his company is doing to stay ahead of its main cloud competitors – Microsoft, Amazon and Google

“Oracle has already shown it is willing to place big bets and go all in to meet the AI moment. The company must now prove that beyond capacity, it can capitalize on its massive underlying data and enterprise capabilities … to add meaningful value to the enterprise AI wave,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, on the sidelines of Oracle’s conference.

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