Threads is notorious for engagement bait, and Meta knows it. And they're going to try to fix it, too — allegedly. This revelation came as many updates on Threads do: through a conversation on the app itself. Two days ago, a Threads user posted a fake image of an old lady wearing a miniskirt on the subway.

Engagement bait on Threads typically covers posts with banal questions or invites for open-ended discussions to encourage other users to interact. Because Threads, like Instagram, pushes users to see an algorithmic feed of posts by default, getting more interactions can snowball a simple post into virality.

In July, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg said Threads had reached 175 million monthly active users. It is a much larger platform than fellow X rival Bluesky, in large part thanks to its active promotion on other Meta platforms, most notably Instagram.

Meta has faced intense public scrutiny about young people on its platforms, and it’s taken action in the face of regulation, restricting what underage teens can do on its services. It started requiring all Instagram users to put their birthdays on file in 2021.

Meta is testing a new feature that allows Instagram Reels to be shared directly to Threads, further enhancing cross-platform integration and simplifying content sharing between Meta's social networks.