Threads Accounts Can't Be Deleted Without Deleting Your Instagram

By Cade Onder

Threads is taking some flack for how you can't deactivate your account without also deleting your Instagram. In case you missed it, Threads is a brand-new social media app that serves as an extension of Instagram and a competitor to Twitter. It is immediately clear it is just like the latter with how it functions from having a retweet-esque repost feature, a scrolling timeline with tweet-sized posts, and so on. In just a matter of days, it has amassed nearly 100 million users, largely because Instagram users can start an account and import all of their information, followers, and who they follow so it's not like starting from scratch on other services. However, because of this direct link, it is causing some problems.

Users noticed that they can't deactivate their Threads account without also deactivating their Instagram. It's a bit strange, but you need an Instagram account to use Threads and they're linked in such a way that there's currently no way to decouple them. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri noted that there are some loopholes to basically turning your account into a ghost town without deleting your entire Instagram, but they're also looking into making it so you can delete one without erasing the other.

"I've been getting some questions about deleting your account," said Mosseri. "To clarify, you can deactivate your Threads account, which hides your Threads profile and content, you can set your profile to private, and you can delete individual threads posts – all without deleting your Instagram account. Threads is powered by Instagram, so right now it's just one account, but we're looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately."  

This isn't ideal, but at least they are working to change this. Threads is in its infancy and may have been rushed out to capitalize on Twitter angering a bunch of its users as it is missing some key features. You can't use hashtags, there are no DMs, and so on. Either way, it seems like all these things will be rectified in the coming weeks and months.

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What do you think of Threads? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

[H/T The Verge]

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