Meta’s recent Twitter killer app, Mark Zuckerberg, Threads quickly became embroiled in a censorship controversy after warning users that Donald Trump Jr. could possibly be a source of misinformation – before the corporate quickly backtracked.
Thread users who tried to follow the forty fifth president’s eldest son were greeted with the message: “Are you sure you should follow donaldjtrumpjr?”
“This account has repeatedly posted false information that has been checked by independent fact-checkers or has not been in keeping with our Community Guidelines.”
Don Jr. posted a screenshot of the warning on its rival Twitter on Thursday and called out the pinnacle of Instagram and Facebook.
“Threads didn’t quite get off to a very good start,” he wrote.
“Hey Instagram, threads are verbal so the entire skimpy bikini thing won’t work so well in case your influencers cannot form a sentence…IMHO it is advisable to rethink cutting off those that can.”
In response to Don Jr.’s tweet, Andy Stone, who leads communications at Meta, wrote: “It was a mistake and mustn’t have happened. This has been fixed.
![Donald Trump Jr. has been identified as a source of misinformation by Threads, a new social media app launched by Meta.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000013654224.jpg?w=1024)
The warning label was subsequently removed.
!["Are you sure you want to follow donaldjtrumpjra?" threaded message read.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000013716210.jpg)
Don Jr. he replied, “Okay, thanks, I appreciate it.”
The post asked Meta for comment.
The social media giant has removed Donald Trump from Instagram and Facebook for 2 years after the January 6 riots.
Skeptics didn’t buy Stone’s claim that it was an innocent mistake.
“Is not it weird that bugs at all times attack conservatives???” one Twitter user wrote.
One other commentator wrote: “Yeah, nevertheless it happened and we all know where Zuckerberg’s loyalties lie.”
Several other distinguished conservatives on social media said their posts were censored by Threads.
![Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said 30 million people signed up for Threads this week.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000012044438-3.jpg?w=1024)
In doing so, they pledged their loyalty to Twitter, which was taken over by Zuckerberg’s enemy Elon Musk for the express purpose of allowing almost uninhibited speech.
“Facebook’s Threads is already censoring conservative voices on its platform, asking users in the event that they actually need to follow conservatives due to ‘misinformation’,” conservative commentator Darren Grimes tweeted. “We must keep the blue bird of freedom alive. @elonmusk.”
“Imagine leaving Twitter, the web’s most free-speech platform – owned and operated by certainly one of the best free-speech advocates of our time – to go to Threads, an app that engages in day one censorship of conservatives,” Conservative commentator Benny Johnson he wrote on Twitter.
![Threads is considered a rival to Twitter, the microblogging site owned by Elon Musk.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000013618799-3.jpg?w=1024)
One other right-wing social media outlet often known as “DC_Draino” tweeted: “Just downloaded and signed up for the brand new Meta ‘Threads’ app that’s purported to mimic Twitter.”
“I wrote once about wanting to show the corrupt Biden government and so they already tagged me for censorship… Great platform Zuck.”
Threads has attracted 50 million users since launch on Wednesday and is facing a possible legal battle with Musk.
![Musk's attorney threatened to sue Meta, claiming he stole Twitter technology.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000013331540.jpg?w=1024)
In a Wednesday letter to Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Twitter, threatened to sue Meta and accused the corporate of unlawfully exploiting Twitter’s trade secrets and other mental property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat” app.