Twitter blocks links to Threads while CEO denies reports of traffic decline

Twitter has started blocking Threads links in searches. Aside from this, the microblogging website's CEO Linda Yaccarino is sparing no effort to reassure advertisers that Threads can't replace Twitter.

Regardless, it looks like Twitter is actually concerned about the threat posed by Meta's Threads, which now boasts over a whopping 100 million users. In fact, data from Quiver Quantitative claims Threads now has an estimated 106 million users.

Twitter seems to be concerned

Twitter owner Elon Musk and the platform's former CEO Jack Dorsey even mocked Mark Zuckerberg's Threads app over privacy concerns. As if that weren't enough, a developer recently noticed that Twitter now blocks Threads links in searches.

As a result, it is hard for Twitter users to locate Threads users' profiles on the platform. One of the people who noticed the change on Twitter was technologist Andy Baio. The technologist performed a search using the operator "url:threads.net," but it returned no results.

Although the block doesn't seem to apply to everyone at the moment, many others, including the folks at The Verge are reporting the same. Currently, searching for "url:threads.net" returns no results, although there's no dearth of tweets that link to the domain.

Similarly, searching for "threads.net" without the "url:" operator generates a myriad of irrelevant results from Threads users who are talking about the new platform without linking to it. However, it doesn't show any linked Threads posts.

There's a workaround

If you get creative, you can manage to find links to Threads posts on Twitter. According to the report, the best workaround is to search for the URL "threads net" with a space between "threads" and "net." Alternatively, you can search for specific Thread post URLs like this.

The war between Twitter and Threads has intensified

Still, finding a broad array of Threads links on Twitter can turn out to be an arduous task. Also, it is unclear whether Twitter is blocking these links intentionally. Twitter has a reputation for trying to erase a competing platform. According to a report by 9To5Mac, the website restricted tweets and links to Substack newsletters earlier this year.

Twitter users were restricted from liking, retweeting, or replying to tweets containing Substack URLs. Moreover, Twitter marked Substack links as unsafe and even redirected searches for "Substack" to general "newsletter."

Musk claimed Twitter placed a limitation on Substack links because the service was "trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone." Surprisingly, his concern was short-lived as eventually the restriction was removed.

Similarly, Musk has been very critical of Threads and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lately. On July 6, Musk accused Meta of cheating in a tweet that pointed out, "competition is fine, cheating is not."

Now, Twitter has threatened to sue Meta, claiming the tech giant is involved in "systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property." The animosity between the top social media executives has heated up lately, with Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a "cage match."

Earlier this month, Musk restricted the number of tweets users can read in a day. Apparently, the limits enabled the social media giant to stop system manipulation and data scraping. As expected, the Twitterverse felt the limits are too restrictive since they make following news and current events harder.

This seems to have further encouraged Twitter users to switch to Meta's Twitter alternative. Meanwhile, Musk seems to have deviated his focus to taking jibes at Zuckerberg. In line with this, the 52-year-old business magnate recently resorted to name-calling, tweeting "Zuck is a cuck."

Twitter CEO Yaccarino, on the other hand, has been leaving no stone unturned to convince advertisers that Twitter is irreplaceable. In her tweet, she pointed out Twitter traffic has been booming as of late. However, data from web analytics firm Similar Web suggest Twitter's web traffic has declined 5 per cent for the first two days.