Elon Musk's Twitter sees traffic drop even as Threads registers 100 million users

Less than a week after its global roll out (except in the EU), Threads has already registered 100 million users. The micro blogging app is closely linked to a user's Instagram account and is positioned as an alternative to services like Twitter.

While ChatGPT took two months to hit the 100 million user mark and video-sharing app TikTok took nine months, Instagram itself took two and a half years to reach that mark after its 2010 launch.

Threads went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries on Wednesday and Thursday. It is however not available in Europe because parent company Meta is unsure how to navigate the European Union’s data privacy legislation.

Meanwhile, Twitter's DNS ranking has seen a drop over the first six months of the year. Twitter is thought to have around 200 million regular users but it has suffered repeated technical failures since Tesla tycoon Elon Musk bought the platform last year and sacked thousands of staff. 

Musk, also the boss of SpaceX, has alienated many users by introducing charges for previously free services and allowing banned right-wing accounts back on the platform. 

Musk has also threatened to sue Meta for stealing trade secrets and intellectual property, claims denied by the company.