Meta's Threads: A Privacy Nightmare Enters the Ring to Challenge Twitter

Meta's upcoming app, Threads, is facing privacy concerns as it may collect sensitive user information, including health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, and contacts. The app's data-for-ads processing, which relies on the legal basis of legitimate interest, has been deemed inappropriate by the European Union's top court. Furthermore, incoming EU regulations ban the use of sensitive data for ads and require explicit consent for data profiling. Meta's recent order to stop sending EU user data to the US and its hefty fine for breaching GDPR requirements add to the legal uncertainty surrounding the app's launch in the EU. The app won't be launching in the EU for now, and Meta's compliance with EU law would require significant changes to its data collection practices.