- The Washington Times - Friday, March 8, 2024

Users on Meta’s Threads love talking politics, even as the company tries to distance the platform from political discussions.

After President Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday, many of the platform’s trending topics were political. The themes included the president’s comments on immigration and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s heckling skills.

For something to appear on Threads’ trending page, it has to have generated thousands of posts from individual users. While the trending page is still in the testing phase, it’s clear that political discourse is popular.

While most of the other trending topics were lighter, the presence of political posts on the trending page shows the limit of Meta’s tilt against news on the platform.

Last month, the company said it would not “proactively” recommend political posts to users on Instagram or Threads. While users will still see posts from news outlets or political commentators they follow, the site won’t recommend new political content.

The decision puts Threads in stark contrast to its main competitor, X, where news junkies matriculate.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.

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