Meta says Instagram account deletion is the only way to delete Threads

According to co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Threads has gained 10 million users in seven hours. The highly anticipated new service requires an Instagram account for onboarding, but deleting a Threads account requires deleting the linked Instagram account.

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

Meta explains on the policy page that Threads profiles are part of Instagram accounts. This stipulation surprised many users.

I deactivated my threads account already but it turns out you can’t delete your threads account *without also deleting your Instagram account* so maybe just don’t sign up!

— emily hughes ✨ (@emilyhughes) July 6, 2023

Twitter’s high-profile competitor is Threads, a text-based conversation app.

Instagram, with over 2 billion users, launched Threads on Wednesday in over 100 countries. The latest Twitter competitor is the most popular.

“I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it,” Zuckerberg wrote on Threads. Twitter missed the mark. Hope so.”

Zuckerberg tweeted early Thursday that the app had 10 million signups in seven hours, using an emoji to express his amazement. Threads is the fastest-growing consumer offering at 10 million.

Netflix, Amazon, NFL, and Pepsi have also joined Threads. As of publication, Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Disney remain mysteriously absent.