Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting Instagram account, Meta says

Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is drawing users at an astounding pace, amassing 10 million sign-ups in just seven hours, according to co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. But the highly anticipated new service, which requires an Instagram account for onboarding, features an intriguing stipulation: Deleting a Threads account requires deleting the linked Instagram account.

In a Supplemental Privacy Policy, Meta explains: “You may deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account.”

The rationale, Meta elaborates on the policy page, is that a Threads profile is part of the user’s Instagram account. The discovery of this stipulation has surprised many users.

Threads, a text-based conversation app, is the high-profile alternative to the Elon Musk–owned social media platform Twitter.

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing platform with more than 2 billion users, rolled out Threads on Wednesday to users in more than 100 countries. The app, the latest in a series of fast-growing Twitter rivals, is appearing to be the most desirable so far.

In a Threads post, Zuckerberg explained the vision he has for the new app: “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

Zuckerberg said early Thursday that the app had attracted 10 million sign-ups in just seven hours, sharing an emoji that suggested that his mind had been blown by the reception. The pace to 10 million makes Threads the fastest-growing consumer offering.

A number of brands, including Netflix, Amazon, NFL, and Pepsi, have also expressed their vote of confidence in Threads by signing up to the app. However, many major names — Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Disney — remain mysteriously absent, at least as of the time of publication.

Update, 7/6/23, 2:22 PM ET: After receiving user feedback over this policy decision, Instagram head Adam Mosseri clarified how account deletion would work. He says that users can deactivate their Threads account to hide their profile and content, can set their profile to private, or can delete all their individual threads posts without deleting their Instagram account. But, right now, Threads and Instagram are all one account, so deleting one would delete the other. Mosseri adds that the company is “looking into a way to delete your Threads account separately.”