Earlier this week, Instagram Threads launched what the company said was its most requested feature to date: private messages (PMs). However, the company has now faced some negative user reaction to this innovation, as users, primarily women, argue that it should be possible to opt out of PMs entirely, citing concerns about harassment.
While PP is part of other social networks similar to Threads, including X, Bluesky, Mastodon, and others, some Threads users acknowledged that it was not previously available.
“I don’t want to receive DM messages. How do I turn this thing off? I’m asking on behalf of all women,” one Threads user wrote on the platform.
“Great. Even more ways for women to be harassed online,” said another.
“Congrats on adding a feature that was only of interest to harassers,” said a third.
Many others responded to the announcement of the PP, which was posted on Threads by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. In dozens of posts, some of these users wrote that they did not want a PP or claimed that “no one asked for it.” One person pointed to a poll with thousands of votes where Threads users indicated that the vast majority of them would prefer not to have the PP feature. Some asked if there was a way to disable the feature (there is not).
While harassment is one concern, others are worried about inboxes overflowing with bots, spam, and other unwanted messages.
Currently, the system is built in such a way that you have to track the user to be able to send you PMs. If this person bothers you, unfollow them to revoke their access to your inbox. (For a more severe option, you can block the user, which will also block them on Instagram).
Perhaps those who were upset by the addition of this feature were more likely to share their thoughts online – just as consumers tend to post bad reviews of businesses on sites like Google Maps and Yelp rather than their positive experiences.
However, those who complain may have a point. As a social media platform grows, adding new features after the culture is already established can cause disruption. Creating a non-public way for users to interact changes how some people want to use Threads. At the same time, the lack of control users have over the process, such as the ability to opt out, makes them feel helpless.
Perhaps Meta believed that by linking PMs to followers, it was giving users the ability to decide who could contact them more privately. But the company didn’t realize that on a public social network like Threads, users may find themselves following people whose posts and opinions they want to read, but from whom, as strangers, they would rather keep their distance.
