Meta introduces ads on Threads

Meta is to start testing ads on its micro-blogging platform, Threads, with a selected number of advertisers in the US and Japan.

The move marks a first run for the tech giant at generating revenue from Threads, since it launched the app in 2023.

Threads now has over 300 million monthly active users and according to the company, three out of four people on the app follow at least one business.

In a blogpost published on Friday (24 January), Meta said: “To help people deepen connections with businesses they love, we are beginning to test ads in Threads with a small group of businesses and consumers in select regions.

“Businesses participating in this test will be able to benefit from familiar brand safety and suitability solutions, and consumers will have access to controls to help tailor their ad experience.”

A small percentage of users will be able to see the ads in the Threads feed, which will be an image that appears between pieces of content on the home page

The social media giant went on to add that it will be monitoring the test closely before scaling it and businesses will be able to “extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to Threads—without the need for bespoke creative or additional resourcing."

Meta will also begin testing an inventory filter for ads within the platform, enabled through AI, that will allow advertisers to control the sensitivity level of the organic content their ads appear next to.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, at Meta, wrote in a post on Threads: “We know there will be plenty of feedback about how we should approach ads, and we are making sure they feel like Threads posts you’d find relevant and interesting. 

“We’ll closely [be] monitoring this test before scaling it more broadly, with the goal of getting ads on Threads to a place where they are as interesting as organic content.”

The news comes after Meta announced it would be relaxing its fact-checking policies in the US. 

At the time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta is “going back to its roots” with new policies and systems in place to "reduce censorship" across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads under Donald Trump’s administration.