Billionaire tech figure and Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey has weighed in on Meta’s new Topics service, a product associated with the social network formerly barred in Russia for allowed content concerns, which is still awaiting a full public rollout. Threads, Meta’s platform positioned as a competitor to Twitter, has been the subject of anticipation since Meta announced plans to debut the service, with a formal launch date linked to July 6, 2023. In the meantime, some users have access to the corresponding Threads app on iPhones, a move that drew notable reactions from Dorsey and others in the tech community.
Dorsey took aim at Threads by highlighting privacy concerns around the Topics feature, specifically pointing to the data permissions that Topics asks for. A screenshot circulated showing a list of information categories such as financial data, health information, contacts, shopping activity, location data, and additional categories, totaling fourteen distinct data types. Dorsey commented on the screenshot with the line, All your threads are ours, using irony to emphasize his view that user content and data may be repurposed by the platform. [attribution: Tech sources discussing Dorsey’s post]
The post from the former Twitter leader drew substantial engagement, accumulating close to six million views, roughly twenty thousand likes, and more than four thousand comments. Among the responses came a notably brief reply from Elon Musk, who currently owns Twitter and is known for his own high-profile tech ventures. Musk’s succinct response to Dorsey’s commentary was a simple Yes, indicating alignment with the concerns raised. [attribution: Social media conversation coverage]
Beyond these exchanges, the discussion touched on broader industry chatter about how future social media tools handle data collection, user privacy, and platform governance. Musk himself has been part of public debates about the direction of social networks and the role of competition versus consolidation in this space. Reports at the time also referenced Musk’s public statements about training requirements for an upcoming mixed martial arts bout involving Mark Zuckerberg, a cross-pusion of tech personalities into popular culture moments. [attribution: interview summaries and event coverage]
Overall, the episode reflects a moment when highly visible figures in the tech world use public threads to scrutinize new platform features and privacy policies. The exchange underscores ongoing concerns about who owns user data, what kinds of information are collected, and how that data might be used to shape experiences across social networks. As Meta’s Topics service moves toward broader availability, observers continue to watch to see how these concerns influence user trust and the competitive landscape among major social platforms. [attribution: industry commentary]