Meta is blocking individuals in the European Union (EU) from accessing its new social app, Threads, using a virtual private network (VPN), the company confirmed on Friday.
Threads is currently available in about 100 countries worldwide, excluding the EU. Ahead of its launch on July 5, Ireland’s data privacy watchdog confirmed that the app won’t be available in the EU at this time.
Some users in the EU have sought to bypass restrictions and access Threads with a VPN. However, Meta has confirmed that it is actively blocking such attempts.
“Threads is currently unavailable in most European countries and we have taken further measures to prevent people from those countries accessing threads. Europe continues to be a very important market for Meta and we hope to be able to bring Threads to more countries in the future,” Meta said in a statement.
The EU and Threads
Meta has said it is working to make Threads compliant with EU laws but has not provided a timeline for the app’s availability in the region. Threads collects a significant amount of personal data, including health and financial data, precise location, search history, and browsing history.
In the EU, several regulations limit how tech giants like Meta can collect, use, and process personal data. These include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires companies to obtain users’ consent before collecting and using their data for specific purposes.
Also, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), enacted in May, imposes restrictions on how companies like Meta use the personal data of its users across its various products. Specifically, the DMA prohibits Meta from reusing a user’s personal data, such as their name and location, for targeted advertising across its platforms without the user’s explicit consent. This means that Meta would be barred from leveraging the information it collects on Threads to serve targeted ads to a user on Instagram or Facebook.
Meanwhile, Threads is joining the online Fediverse (federation universe), a decentralized network of servers that allows users to communicate across different platforms, according to a thread by the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri. This could further complicate its efforts to comply with EU data privacy laws.
Threads is governed by the same overarching privacy policy that applies to Meta’s other social media platforms. If you’re interested in the specifics, you can review the entire policy here or the Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy here.
Alternatives to Threads
While Threads is not currently available in the EU, there are other social apps that offer similar or better functionality and privacy, such as Mastodon, Signal, Telegram, and Twitter.
Some users in the EU claim that once they sign up for Threads with a VPN, they can continue to access the platform without one. However, the features of the app may not load properly.
While we haven’t tested accessing Threads with a VPN, our top-ranking VPNs are generally much more effective at bypassing geo-restrictions than others.
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