Threads app – latest: Meta’s rival to Twitter about to launch as Elon Musk’s site descends into chaos

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is finally launching Threads, the text app that it hopes could overtake Twitter. It arrives at a particularly difficult time for Elon Musk’s Twitter. The site has faced a range of technical issues in recent days, which it has blamed on AI services scraping its site. “Threads, an Instagram app” will arrive in the App Store on Thursday morning US time. Threads aims to take on the app with a range of features that are similar to those offered by Twitter, according to its App Store listing. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it reads. “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.” It is just the latest in a long line of apps to try and take over from the increasingly troubled Twitter in offering text-based updates. But almost all of those apps – from the decentralised Mastodon to Donald Trump’s Truth Social – have struggled to find users.