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The image features a bold, stylized representation of the lowercase letter "g" in black on a white background.

# content
Last week, I wrote about alternatives to Meta’s WhatsApp. While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, the many privacy issues with both Meta in general and WhatsApp in particular provide many reasons to stay away or move away from WhatsApp. I, myself, have never used WhatsApp, but I want to be as thorough as possible in providing solutions for the Meta problem.

This week, we take a look at Threads, the micro blogging service which Meta released in 2023 to take advantage of the mass exodus from Twitter after Elon Musk’s purchase in 2022. As with other Meta services, Threads comes with its fair share of issues. Before Threads was out of beta, TechCrunch reported that Threads was a “privacy nightmare”:

Information provided about the app’s privacy via mandatory disclosures required on iOS shows the app may collect highly sensitive information about users in order to profile their digital activity — including health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, contacts, search history and other sensitive information.

Lomas, N. (2023, July 5). Meta’s Threads app is a privacy nightmare that won’t launch in EU yet. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-no-eu-launch/

‌While Threads initially grew quickly, reaching 100 million users within days of its launch, Meta stopped reporting their user count, so any reported current user counts are estimates at best.

Threads other issue is that, as part of Meta, there is no longer any fact-checking to attempt to counter misinformation and extremism on the platform. This decision came shortly before Donald Trump began his second term as US President and was a clear capitulation to Trump and Republicans, who have used misinformation and extremism as tools in their continuing war to establish fascism.

Export Your Threads Data

Before leaving Threads, the first thing we’ll do is export our account data for backup and archival purposes. Fortunately, Meta provides instructions on how to do this.

Go to instagram.com.

Click Menu in the bottom left, then click Settings.

Click Account at the top.

Click Download your information.

Enter the email address where you’d like to receive a link to your data, then click Request Download.

Enter your Instagram account password and click Next in the top right, then click Done.

You’ll receive an email titled Your Threads Data with a link to your data. Click Download data and follow the instructions to finish downloading your information.

View and download your Threads information | Instagram Help Center. (2017). Facebook.com. https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/259803026523198/?query=studio%204%20threads

What’s confusing is that the option to download your Threads data is actually under your Instagram account. Be sure to select your Instagram account, choose the “Some of your information” option, and then check the box for Threads in the list of information choices under your Instagram accounts. You will also have the ability to select the data format (HTML or JSON) and how far back you want to download (I selected “all time”). Once your data is ready to download, you will receive an email notification with a link to start the download.

Since I’ve only been on Threads for a few months, my download was ready within minutes and was just a few megabytes in size. If you’ve been on longer or posted a lot of media, your data will take longer to process and download. You should also note that you only have 4 days to download your data before it expires, though you can re-submit your request at any time.

Delete Your Threads Account

Originally, you couldn’t delete your Threads account without also deleting your Instragram account. That, of course, was very unpopular, and Meta eventually made it possible to just kill your Threads account. Just follow these simple steps:

To permanently pull the plug on your account, make sure you’re signed into the Threads app. Tap the profile icon in the lower right on the bottom toolbar, tap the double-lined icon in the upper right, and then select Account. At the Account screen, tap Deactivate or Delete profile. Tap the button at the bottom for Delete profile.

Enter your password in the password field and then confirm your action by tapping Delete Threads profile. A message pops up telling you that your account is scheduled for deletion, an action that will occur in another 30 days. Until that time, you will no longer be visible on Threads. If you change your mind, just sign back into your account. Otherwise, wait for the 30 days to pass for your account to be permanently removed.

Whitney, L. (2025, January 13). How to Delete a Threads Profile Without Getting Rid of Your Instagram Account. PCMAG; PCMag. https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-delete-threads-without-getting-rid-of-your-instagram-account#

Threads Alternatives

When Elon Musk bought Twitter and started morphing it into his own personal Truth Social, I had looked at alternative micro blogging sites I could move two. There were two main alternatives then and they are still the front-runners now.

Bluesky

Bluesky first appeared as an invite only service in October 2022, right around the time Musk took over Twitter. The service has iOS and Android apps for mobile and has released its code as open source, allowing anybody to create an account on the service for free. The service grew in a big way thanks to the influx of Brazilian accounts created with the impending shutdown of Twitter in the country in late 2024. There are even projects in the works to make the Bluesky service federated and visible to other services, including…

Mastodon/Pleroma

I am listing these two services together as they are both similar. Both Mastodon and Pleroma are free open source micro blogging platforms, similar to Bluesky. The difference is that these services are decentralized and federated. What this means is that, unlike most major social media platforms like Threads and Facebook, which are their own “walled gardens” and won’t play nice with others, there are many Mastodon and Plerorma servers on the web which CAN talk to one another. This is similar to how email works, but for micro blogging. For example, my Mastodon account is hosted on a server called twit.social, but I can see and respond to posts from other Mastodon servers such as mastodon.social, writing.exchange, social.coop, and others. I can also see and respond to other services on the “Fediverse“, including Pixelfed (photo sharing), Diaspora (Facebook alternative), Bookwyrm (book and reading social sharing), and others.

Do you have a Bluesky, and/or Mastodon/Pleroma account? Post your account info in the comments. My accounts are located at:

Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/medi-nerd.com

Mastodon – https://twit.social/@kevingamin

# contentMap.en
Last week, I wrote about alternatives to Meta’s WhatsApp. While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, the many privacy issues with both Meta in general and WhatsApp in particular provide many reasons to stay away or move away from WhatsApp. I, myself, have never used WhatsApp, but I want to be as thorough as possible in providing solutions for the Meta problem.

This week, we take a look at Threads, the micro blogging service which Meta released in 2023 to take advantage of the mass exodus from Twitter after Elon Musk’s purchase in 2022. As with other Meta services, Threads comes with its fair share of issues. Before Threads was out of beta, TechCrunch reported that Threads was a “privacy nightmare”:

Information provided about the app’s privacy via mandatory disclosures required on iOS shows the app may collect highly sensitive information about users in order to profile their digital activity — including health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, contacts, search history and other sensitive information.

Lomas, N. (2023, July 5). Meta’s Threads app is a privacy nightmare that won’t launch in EU yet. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-no-eu-launch/

‌While Threads initially grew quickly, reaching 100 million users within days of its launch, Meta stopped reporting their user count, so any reported current user counts are estimates at best.

Threads other issue is that, as part of Meta, there is no longer any fact-checking to attempt to counter misinformation and extremism on the platform. This decision came shortly before Donald Trump began his second term as US President and was a clear capitulation to Trump and Republicans, who have used misinformation and extremism as tools in their continuing war to establish fascism.

Export Your Threads Data

Before leaving Threads, the first thing we’ll do is export our account data for backup and archival purposes. Fortunately, Meta provides instructions on how to do this.

Go to instagram.com.

Click Menu in the bottom left, then click Settings.

Click Account at the top.

Click Download your information.

Enter the email address where you’d like to receive a link to your data, then click Request Download.

Enter your Instagram account password and click Next in the top right, then click Done.

You’ll receive an email titled Your Threads Data with a link to your data. Click Download data and follow the instructions to finish downloading your information.

View and download your Threads information | Instagram Help Center. (2017). Facebook.com. https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/259803026523198/?query=studio%204%20threads

What’s confusing is that the option to download your Threads data is actually under your Instagram account. Be sure to select your Instagram account, choose the “Some of your information” option, and then check the box for Threads in the list of information choices under your Instagram accounts. You will also have the ability to select the data format (HTML or JSON) and how far back you want to download (I selected “all time”). Once your data is ready to download, you will receive an email notification with a link to start the download.

Since I’ve only been on Threads for a few months, my download was ready within minutes and was just a few megabytes in size. If you’ve been on longer or posted a lot of media, your data will take longer to process and download. You should also note that you only have 4 days to download your data before it expires, though you can re-submit your request at any time.

Delete Your Threads Account

Originally, you couldn’t delete your Threads account without also deleting your Instragram account. That, of course, was very unpopular, and Meta eventually made it possible to just kill your Threads account. Just follow these simple steps:

To permanently pull the plug on your account, make sure you’re signed into the Threads app. Tap the profile icon in the lower right on the bottom toolbar, tap the double-lined icon in the upper right, and then select Account. At the Account screen, tap Deactivate or Delete profile. Tap the button at the bottom for Delete profile.

Enter your password in the password field and then confirm your action by tapping Delete Threads profile. A message pops up telling you that your account is scheduled for deletion, an action that will occur in another 30 days. Until that time, you will no longer be visible on Threads. If you change your mind, just sign back into your account. Otherwise, wait for the 30 days to pass for your account to be permanently removed.

Whitney, L. (2025, January 13). How to Delete a Threads Profile Without Getting Rid of Your Instagram Account. PCMAG; PCMag. https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-delete-threads-without-getting-rid-of-your-instagram-account#

Threads Alternatives

When Elon Musk bought Twitter and started morphing it into his own personal Truth Social, I had looked at alternative micro blogging sites I could move two. There were two main alternatives then and they are still the front-runners now.

Bluesky

Bluesky first appeared as an invite only service in October 2022, right around the time Musk took over Twitter. The service has iOS and Android apps for mobile and has released its code as open source, allowing anybody to create an account on the service for free. The service grew in a big way thanks to the influx of Brazilian accounts created with the impending shutdown of Twitter in the country in late 2024. There are even projects in the works to make the Bluesky service federated and visible to other services, including…

Mastodon/Pleroma

I am listing these two services together as they are both similar. Both Mastodon and Pleroma are free open source micro blogging platforms, similar to Bluesky. The difference is that these services are decentralized and federated. What this means is that, unlike most major social media platforms like Threads and Facebook, which are their own “walled gardens” and won’t play nice with others, there are many Mastodon and Plerorma servers on the web which CAN talk to one another. This is similar to how email works, but for micro blogging. For example, my Mastodon account is hosted on a server called twit.social, but I can see and respond to posts from other Mastodon servers such as mastodon.social, writing.exchange, social.coop, and others. I can also see and respond to other services on the “Fediverse“, including Pixelfed (photo sharing), Diaspora (Facebook alternative), Bookwyrm (book and reading social sharing), and others.

Do you have a Bluesky, and/or Mastodon/Pleroma account? Post your account info in the comments. My accounts are located at:

Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/medi-nerd.com

Mastodon – https://twit.social/@kevingamin

# icon.name
The image features a bold, stylized representation of the lowercase letter "g" in black on a white background.

# image.name
The image features a bold, stylized representation of the lowercase letter "g" in black on a white background.

# preview.content
Last week, I wrote about alternatives to Meta’s WhatsApp. While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, the many privacy issues with both Meta in general and WhatsApp in particular provide many reasons to stay away or move away from WhatsApp. I, myself, have never used WhatsApp, but I want to be as thorough as possible in providing solutions for the Meta problem.

This week, we take a look at Threads, the micro blogging service which Meta released in 2023 to take advantage of the mass exodus […]

# summary
Last week, I wrote about alternatives to Meta’s WhatsApp. While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, the many privacy issues with both Meta in general and WhatsApp in particular provide many reasons to stay away or move away from WhatsApp. I, myself, have never used WhatsApp, but I want to be as thorough as possible in providing solutions for the Meta problem.

This week, we take a look at Threads, the micro blogging service which Meta released in 2023 to take advantage of the mass exodus […]

# summaryMap.en
Last week, I wrote about alternatives to Meta’s WhatsApp. While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, the many privacy issues with both Meta in general and WhatsApp in particular provide many reasons to stay away or move away from WhatsApp. I, myself, have never used WhatsApp, but I want to be as thorough as possible in providing solutions for the Meta problem.

This week, we take a look at Threads, the micro blogging service which Meta released in 2023 to take advantage of the mass exodus […]