Threads now allows Facebook and Instagram post opt-outs

In response to user feedback, Instagram’s Threads will now let users turn off automatic post sharing on Instagram and Facebook. Meta added a carousel of suggested threads to other Meta-owned apps in late August to boost Twitter/X traffic.

Given that their Threads audience was different from their Facebook and Instagram friends and family, many users were upset that they had automatically chosen to share their posts externally. Some threatened to quit Threads if their posts reached their family on Facebook, which they wanted to keep private. Some complained that the suggested threads were “designed to get comments” or clickbait without context.

Threads could gain new users or re-engage lapsed ones by using Instagram and Facebook’s billions of users. It’s a familiar strategy for Meta, which used cross-app sharing to grow reels and messaging with Messenger and Instagram’s 2020 cross-app communication.

Meta has added a privacy option to disable automatic sharing, seemingly addressing those complaints.

Use the two-dash menu at the top right of your Threads profile page to navigate to “Privacy” and “Suggesting posts on other apps.” You can disable Instagram and Facebook thread sharing here.

Note that the sharing feature is opt-out and not publicly announced by the Threads team, demonstrating how far Meta will go to “growth hack” its way to success with the app. The app used its built-in Instagram audience to quickly onboard millions of users in days by suggesting to friends when someone they knew joined Threads and automatically following Instagram contacts. 5.5x faster than Pokémon Go, Threads became the fastest app to reach 150 million downloads. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Threads had reached just under 100 million monthly users three months after its July launch, despite reports that it had lost steam.