The antitrust trial between the Federal Trade Commission and Meta kicked off on April 14, and various executives of Meta and its subsidiaries are appearing on the stand to testify. Today, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri took the stand. During the trial, he revealed that the team originally intended Threads to be just a feature within the Instagram app.

In related news, just so you know, Threads is getting video advertisements soon.

Meta launched Threads on July 5, 2023. However, it began working on the feature in October 2022. After the tech billionaire Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, Meta employees started exploring the concept of bringing text-based functionality to the Instagram app. The team rolled out this feature in December 2022 under the name Instagram Notes.

However, the company then started developing a separate app focused on text-based posts in 2023 to compete with Twitter. So, Meta didn’t initially think about launching Threads as a standalone app, and just thought about adding it to Instagram.

Furthermore, Mosseri said that having text posts inside Instagram could be confusing to users. Twitter’s model is entirely different, and it pioneered text-first social media apps. Mosseri says the team made the “very contentious decision internally” to move Threads out of the Instagram app. However, Threads remains closely linked to Instagram, as you need an account on the platform to use it.

About Threads getting video ads

So far, since launch, Threads has been an advertisement-free platform. However, the text-focused platform started testing ads in select markets, including the US, earlier this year. In April, the app opened ads to all advertisers worldwide. Now, Threads will begin testing ads with video content in them.

Meta announced this at the IAB NewFronts, where a handful of social media platforms pitch themselves to potential advertisers. On Threads, the company said a “small number” of advertisers will test 19:9 or 1:1 video ad creatives.

These will show up between pieces of organic content on the platform. The company hasn’t revealed details around pricing or the frequency of those ads at the moment.

This article first appeared on Android Headlines

📰 Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT & CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC

Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting