145 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content
The homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.
The homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.

Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Instagram Threads launched, and my Mastodon server went offline.

    When I went to look at why Mastodon users shouldn’t worry about Meta building on the ActivityPub protocol, I couldn’t — my Mastodon.xyz account had disappeared.

    The problem was DNS-related (it’s always DNS, remember Facebook’s massive 2021 outage?), and after a 23-hour, 59-minute break, the server’s back online.

    But it shows how decentralization can cut both ways — while this problem didn’t take down all of Mastodon, it left me trying to track down whoever runs my server to find out what happened.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The company behind the doomed Titanic tourist submersible has “suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”

    Yeah, that seems like a logical next move for OceanGate after the Titan vessel’s implosion killed five people, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, as they traveled to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to visit the remains of the Titanic (via CNN).

    The company’s website still advertises $250,000 trips to the Titanic or hydrothermal vents in the Azores.

    “OceanGate has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.”
    OceanGate’s website as of July 6th, 2023.
    Image: OceanGate
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Here’s how Twitter’s leadership is responding to Instagram Threads.

    “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram.” - Elon Musk, @elonmusk (1), (2).

    “We’re often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.” - Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, @lindayacc.

    Threads activated more than 30 million profiles overnight.

    Screenshot of two tweets, first by “Internal Tech Emails” (@techemails), reads “Elon Musk on Instagram, August 21, 2018” with an image of an email from Musk to Juleanna Glover, Kimbal Musk, and Dave Arnold saying “I just deleted my Instagram. Weak sauce.” Response to the tweet by Elon Musk “It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram “
    Image of a tweet by Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, reading, “On Twitter, everyone’s voice matters. Whether you’re here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others — on Twitter YOU can be real. YOU built the Twitter community. 🙏👏 And that’s irreplaceable. This is your public square. We’re often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.”
    1/3Screenshot of @elonmusk
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    So what’s next for Threads? DMs “maybe...”

    Now that Instagram Threads has rolled out to the public (that doesn’t live in the EU), Instagram leader Adam Mosseri acknowledged many of the features it’s currently missing, like “search, hashtags, a following feed, graph syncing, fedeverse support, messaging maybe…”

    The spelling of fediverse also reminds us that currently, you can’t edit Threads posts. (Or are they tweets? The people will decide.)

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Mark Zuckerberg on when Instagram Threads will get ads.

    For an example of what success looks like on an Instagram scale, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that the goal is to get Threads on a “clear path to 1 billion people” before figuring out monetization.

    This mirrors what Adam Mosseri said in an interview with Alex Heath, about the “champagne problem” of making money with Threads:

    If we are successful, if we make something that lots of people love and keep using, we will, I’m sure, monetize it. And I would be confident that the business model will be ads. Right now, we are not focused on monetization. We’re very, very focused on just trying to make something that people love to use. And then, if we get something to scale, that’ll be a champagne problem.

    Mark Zuckerberg: Our approach will be the same as all our other products: make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point.
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Instagram’s Threads app already has over 30 million registered accounts.

    Meta’s boss made his last update seven hours ago when it was at 10 million, but more than twelve hours after launch, the pace of registrations (which consists of clicking a button three or four times, assuming you already have one of the 2 billion-plus Instagram accounts) for Threads hasn’t slowed down.

    The highest registration number I’ve seen so far (visible on the Instagram profile of a linked account) is 26,051,591.

    Update (11:19AM ET): Zuckerberg is awake, and the count is now 30 million, and rising.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko on what Threads means for the fediverse.

    Why is Thread’s plan to use the same decentralized protocol (ActivityPub) as Mastodon a “clear victory for our cause,” according to the founder / CEO of Mastodon?

    A few of the answers given:

    A server you are not signed up with and logged into cannot get your private data or track you across the web.

    Unless you use Threads, you will not see any ads from Threads.

    even if Threads abandoned ActivityPub down the line, where we would end up is exactly where we are now

    Even if you follow or send a message to a Threads user from your Mastodon account, Threads will not be able to collect any of your private information except the message you sent.

    It’s worth reading, even if seeing Meta getting ready to plug millions of users into the fediverse has you a bit worried about the future of other Twitter alternatives.

    What to know about Threads

    [Mastodon Blog]

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    2 million users isn’t cool, you know what’s cool? 5 million users.

    Mark Zuckerberg announced Instagram’s Threads app has over 5 million registered accounts already.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    What do you do if you’re trying to build a new Twitter without a billion-user headstart?

    Just as Meta opened the Threads floodgates, fellow Twitter alternative Bluesky announced an $8 million funding round to “expand our team, manage increasing operation and infrastructure costs, and grow the AT Protocol ecosystem as well as the Bluesky app.”

    It also announced its first paid service — domain sales. Since Bluesky users can tie their account to any domain they own, it’s partnering with Namecheap to simplify the process, saying users can pick a domain and get it set up in less than a minute.

    Purchase and Manage Domains Directly Through Bluesky

    [blueskyweb.xyz]

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Threads already has over 2 million users.

    Launching a new social network on the back of one that has over a billion users has its advantages — new user accounts on Threads are already showing registration numbers beyond 2 million just two hours after its launch, which Mark Zuckerberg confirmed with a post.

    Before the app opened its doors at 7PM ET, there were fewer than 3,000 registered accounts.

    If you’re wondering what your number is — it’s listed on your account on Instagram after you join Threads. The official @TheVerge Threads account is #45,093.

    Screenshot of a post on Instagram Threads: Mark Zuckerberg posts “Threads just passed 2 million sign ups in the first two hours.”
    Two hours in.
    Image: Mark Zuckerberg

    Most Popular

    Most Popular
    1. Hisense aggressively cuts the price of its RGB LED TV on release day
    2. Homebridge 2.0 is here, and it speaks Matter
    3. Tesla hits Musk’s threshold for ‘safe unsupervised’ driving
    4. Apple raises the Mac Mini’s starting price
    5. Amazon’s trying to turn its massive shipping operation into another AWS