Carry On Instagram Threads really integrate with fediversealso known as the open social web, to allow its users to interact with people on other services like Mastodon and move their account elsewhere if they decide that Meta’s policies are no longer to their liking? Now that answer remains elusive. Meta has yet to confirm if or when account portability features will be added to its roadmap and federation plans for the newer social network.

Reached for comment on the status of efforts to bring the account to Threads, a Meta spokesperson said the plans are “top of mind” but declined to share details about the map ahead.

Meta’s decision not to prioritize porting the account in the near term comes at an important time for the tech giant. The company recently announced the ending its fact-checking program in favor of a crowdsourced Community Notes feature, similar to X’s, including loosened rules for updating content. This too disable the system that punishes wrong information by demoting that content on its platforms, according to a report from Platformer. These changes may prompt users to re-evaluate their relationship with Meta, and possibly consider moving their accounts to other services – something Threads says is in finally plans to allow.

At the same time, Gen Z users are so fed up with Meta’s monopoly on social media that instead of returning to Instagram Reels in preparation for the ban on TikTok in the US, they are switching to a Chinese social network, called RedNote. (Xiaohongshu). ). Starting this week, some 700,000 users on TikTok joined RedNote while simultaneously making jokes on TikTok, which saw them said goodbye to their “Chinese spy.”

The threads are intended to signal a new direction for Meta, in the sense that it will no longer try to compete with the open social web, but rather join it. To this day, there is much discussion about whether Meta’s move to fediverse, the open social web powered by the ActivityPub protocol, was done in good faith, however. Critics have expressed concerns that Meta is just about to dominate the open web by rapidly establishing itself as the largest federated client, giving it control over the future direction of the fediverse.

However, Meta continues to roll out more Fediverse integrations with Threads, including things like Mastodon cross-post and see responses from Mastodon users within Threads. It has also done a lot of heavy lifting on the user education side by including guides and explanations about fediverse within the Threads app and on the web.

However, one of the key components to becoming a federated app is adopting the Accountability. That means if you don’t like the way your federated server is doing, you can get your account elsewhere, without losing your followers, following, bookmarks, lists, etc.

In one December 2023 meeting between Meta reps and members of the fediverse community, Meta shared that part of what prompted its move to fediverse in the first place was users’ concerns with the idea that Meta was effectively ” belongs” to one’s followers. (While the meeting was off the record, community members in attendance were able to share what was discussed, as long as they did not directly quote or attribute statements to specific individuals from Meta.)

In a summary in the meeting with attendee Tom Coates, he noted that Meta said it wanted to partner with fediverse to help address concerns of users of their social graph.

“They’re looking for the ability to know that if they need to they can move elsewhere,” Coates wrote, though added that “that’s not the whole story.”

Due to the big change in Meta’s policy on fact-checking and moderation, it seems like a good time to check its fediverse agenda, because there doesn’t seem to be any sign that the company has started working in this part.

When asked for an update on the roadmap regarding account flexibility, a Meta spokesperson could not confirm that the topic was even on the Threads roadmap, let alone when it should be discussed.

However, they shared that account portability is “top of mind as we continue our fediverse integration,” and there are “no further details on the roadmap or timing at this time.”

While Threads may very well be looking to eventually add an account portability feature, it’s not a priority because, for now at least, the company wants to keep its users on Threads. . The social network has grown to become the largest federated app (if it is fully federated), with 300 million monthly active usersfrom 275 million in November. It also has 100 million daily active users.

This story was updated after publication with the correct number of TikTok users who joined RedNote, which was 700,000, not 700 million.