Twitter rival Threads finds biggest base in India

More than half of early downloads come from emerging markets as platforms vie for users

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Meta's Threads app gained over 100 million users in its first five days. © Reuters

MASAHARU BAN and AKINOBU IWASAWA, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO -- India accounted for more than a quarter of all downloads of Threads, Meta's new social media platform, in the days after its launch this month, pointing to a user base more tilted toward emerging economies than that of its rival Twitter.

Threads racked up more than 100 million users between its release on July 6 Japan time and July 11. An analysis of global downloads over that period with support from Sensor Tower shows that India had the biggest share at 27.1% -- twice that of the U.S., Meta's home country, which ranked second at 13.6%.

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